Highly decorated major general to speak at fall graduation

BUIES CREEK – The deputy commanding general of the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg will deliver the commencement address at Campbell University’s fall graduation ceremony on Saturday.

Maj. Gen. Rodney O. Anderson will provide inspired words to nearly 500 Campbell University graduates at Saturday’s commencement, slated for 9 a.m. at the John W. Pope Jr. Convocation Center on the Buies Creek campus.

A native of Elloree, S.C., Anderson is a highly decorated soldier whose awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and many more. Anderson is a graduate of Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., and a graduate of the Field Artillery Officer Basic Advanced Courses, Command and General Staff College and the Naval War College at Newport, R.I. While there, he earned a Master of Arts in Strategic and National Security Studies.

Anderson’s career includes a wide range of battery, battalion, brigade and general officer command and staff positions. His most recent duty was as the Director of Army Force Management, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7, in Washington, D.C.

He served as Aide-de-Camp to Lt. Gen. Calvin A. Waller, during Operations Desert Shield and Storm in the Middle East. He also served four tours in the 82nd Airborne Division, commanded the 25th Div. Artillery and served as Executive Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard B. Myers.

His overseas assignments include Korea, Italy, Hawaii and operational deployments for Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada, Operation Desert Shield and Storm in Saudi Arabia and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Anderson and his wife, Linda, have three children – Lindsay, Danielle and Rodney Jr.