CHS grad promoted to Brigadier General
Special to The Clinton Courier
U. S. Army Col. Lawrence Gilbert (Gil) Ferguson, Special Forces officer assigned to the U. S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, has been promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.
General Richard D. Clarke, commanding officer of the U.S. Special Operations Command, presided over the June 10 ceremony at Fort Bragg.
General Ferguson, the son of Charles and Judy Ferguson of Clinton, is a graduate of Clinton High School (CHS) and the U. S. Air Force Academy. He is married to the former Renee Hand. Her parents are Martha and Buddy Hand of Terry. Ferguson and his wife are the parents of three sons, Lawrence, Duncan and Dylan, who took part in their father’s promotion ceremony, pinning the star designating Brigadier to his uniform and cap. Present for the ceremony were the Fergusons and the Hands, Gil’s older brother Bob and his children, and Gil’s Air Force Academy roommate.
News of his promotion has been well received by friends and former teachers, who are not surprised at the special news.
Judi Reynolds recalls, “I taught Gil eleventh grade Honors English. I recall how smart, motivated and focused he was, as well as his outgoing personality and the spark he added to the class. When I watched the livestream commission ceremony, I was not the least bit surprised by his achievement and his success.”
“Gil was a memorable student, intellectual, showing maturity, always polite. The qualities we saw in him in high school have no doubt contributed to his achievements,” said Sharon Feaster, who was one of his CHS science teachers. “This is wonderful news and really quite predictable remembering him in those earlier years.”
His mother smiles as she remembers her son’s interests in childhood. On hearing of the promotion, a family friend who knew him then observed, “If GI Joe could talk, he would say he taught Gil everything he knows.”
His father says, “Recently Gil told me, ‘Dad, I have done everything in my military career that I ever dreamed of doing as a little boy.’”
After graduating from CHS, he attended the U. S Air Force Academy from 1986 to 1990. Graduating from the Academy as Second Lieutenant Ferguson, he cross-commissioned into the Army. He attended the Army Rangers School, then served with the 101st Airborne Screaming Eagles Division.
After a Fort Campbell, Kentucky, tour, military service was on hold for a time as he earned a master’s degree in American history from Mississippi College. He then served on the faculty at Jackson Preparatory School, teaching history from 1994 to 1997. At Jackson Prep, he also was attendance officer, doing the job so well that the students nicknamed him “the general.” He began work on a doctoral degree at the University of Southern Mississippi, but the call of the Army preempted his studies.
He returned to active duty as a special forces officer. He served with the 7th Special Forces Group and has commanded at all levels, from captain through colonel and served throughout Latin America and the Middle East. He has served in Operation Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Inherent Resolve in the Army’s Special Missions unit.
His past experience has included, more recently, Deputy Commander-Operations, 82nd Airborne Division; Chief of Staff, U. S. Army Special Operations Command; Commanding Officer, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne); Chief of Staff, 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne); and Army War College Fellow, Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy.
He is now serving in a new position in the Middle East.
