David H. Huntoon


David Holmes Huntoon Jr. is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general who served as the 58th Superintendent of [the United States Military Academy] at West Point, New York from 2010 to 2013.

Early life

Huntoon is a 1973 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Military career

Huntoon served as an infantry officer in a series of command and staff assignments in the United States and Germany. Following attendance at the United States Army Command and General Staff College and the School for Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, he was assigned to XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. There, he was deployed as a Senior War Plans Officer for Operation Just Cause, Operation Desert Shield, and Operation Desert Storm. He commanded a mechanized infantry battalion at Camp Casey, South Korea, and served in Combined and Joint Plans for the Combined Forces Command and United Nations Command in Seoul. He was the Army's National Security Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He then took command of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard). Following his service as the Executive Officer to the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, he was selected as an Army brigadier general. His general officer assignments were as Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; leadership of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College; Director of Strategy, Plans and Policy for the US Army; Commandant of the U.S. Army War College and Director of the Army Staff in the Pentagon.
In 2012 the Pentagon's Office of Inspector General found that Huntoon had misused his office while at West Point by asking subordinates to perform personal tasks for him. According to The Washington Post, the Inspector General and the Army kept the information confidential until required to release it after a Freedom of Information Act request shortly before he retired in 2013. Huntoon remained the Convening Authority for West Point while he was under investigation, when he was convicted and when he was censured.

Dates of rank

InsigniaRankComponentDate
Second LieutenantRegular ArmyJune 6, 1973
First LieutenantRegular ArmyJune 6, 1975
CaptainRegular ArmyJune 6, 1977
MajorRegular ArmyOctober 1, 1984
Lieutenant ColonelRegular ArmyJanuary 1, 1991
ColonelRegular ArmySeptember 1, 1995
Brigadier GeneralRegular ArmyNovember 1, 1999
Major GeneralRegular ArmyJanuary 1, 2003
Lieutenant GeneralArmy of the United StatesJanuary 25, 2008
Lieutenant GeneralRetired List2013