COLONEL JOHN C. (CHARLES) ANDERSON is a USAR AGR officer serving as the Deputy Commander of the 352d Civil Affairs Command, Fort Meade, Maryland. Prior to this assignment he served as the Director, Reserve Component at the US Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. From August 2013 to May 2014, COL Anderson served as the Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for Army Reserve Affairs for US Army Central (USARCENT) supporting for the USARCENT Commander all Army Reserve equities and initiatives in the US Central Command (CENTCOM) AOR from Camp Arifjan, Kuwait and Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. COL Anderson commanded the 443d Civil Affairs Battalion at Warwick, (later Naval Station Newport) Rhode Island from 2010 to 2013 and served as the Brigade S3 for the 304th Civil Affairs Brigade in Philadelphia.
Experienced at the tactical, operational and strategic levels in civil-military operations, Colonel Anderson was among the first Army Reserve Civil Affairs personnel deploying to Afghanistan with the 489th Civil Affairs Battalion, Knoxville, Tennessee in Operation Enduring Freedom in March 2002 as the CJ-1 for Coalition Joint Civil Military Operations Task Force in Kabul. COL Anderson spent five years in the 489th Civil Affairs Battalion as a Troop Program Unit Reserve Component officer. His other operational deployments include Bosnia-Herzegovina serving as the Assistant S-5 for the 1st Peacekeeping Russian Separate Airborne Brigade at Ugljevik; and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004 as the Civil Affairs Team Chief for TF 1-37/1AD (Bandits) and 39th BCT/1CD in the Adhamiyah District, Baghdad and later in 2008/9 as the Assistant Brigade S3, 304th Civil Affairs Brigade. In this capacity he worked closely with the Iraqi Army developing CMO capabilities within its divisions through the Iraqi Counterinsurgency School and MNFI COIN Academy as well as assisting in the development of the Civil Capacity Sync Board concept for MNC-I. COL Anderson also served as the Deputy Chief Personnel Proponency Office at HRC-St Louis also specifically responsible for personnel proponency and advocacy for the Civil Affairs, PSYOP, Special Forces and FA 59 Reserve Component populations. In that assignment, he worked closely supporting the reassignment of the United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command to the US Army Reserve Command and in activities supporting the branching of the charter Psychological Operations/37A Reserve Component population in 2006.
COL Anderson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from The Citadel, an International MBA from the University of South Carolina, and masters degrees in Security Studies and Strategic Studies from the Kansas State University (Phi Kappa Phi), and the US Army War College, respectively. COL Anderson is a graduate of the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced Courses as well as the Civil Affairs Officers’ Advanced Course, and the Command and General Staff Officers’ Course (with distinction). COL Anderson also holds Certificates in Stability, Security and Development in Complex Operations and Rule of Law from the Naval Postgraduate School. COL Anderson is a PhD student in Organizational Leadership, Policy and Development at the University of Minnesota. COL Anderson is a native of South Carolina.