James Ronald "Ron" Helmly (born September 25, 1947) is a retired

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, and, until May 2006, was the commander of the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 2020 ...

. Helmly was raised in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

and graduated from Robert W. Groves High School in 1965. He dropped out of Armstrong State College and joined the Army in August 1966. After completing Officer Candidate School, Helmly was commissioned on August 24, 1967. He served two combat tours in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and later completed a B.A. degree in liberal studies at the State University of New York in Albany.

On December 20, 2004, Helmly authored a memo in which he described the policies for mobilizing the Reserve "dysfunctional." He reportedly believes that members of the Army Reserve are being treated too delicately, and states that the current state of affairs "threatens to unhinge an already precariously balanced situation in which we are losing as many soldiers through no use as we are through the fear of overuse."

References

Washington Post articleNational Guard: leadership reserve

References

Further reading