Colonel (COL) Russell O. Cummings, III, a native of Columbia, Louisiana, was commissioned in the Field Artillery in December 2002 from Louisiana State University.
COL Cummings’s operational assignments include 1-502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment and 1-320th Glider Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (AASLT) Fort Campbell, KY, 1-28 Infantry Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, KS, Defense Fellow in the United States Senate, Washington DC, NATO Allied Land Command, Izmir, Turkey, Field Artillery Squadron, 3d Cavalry Regiment and 1st Cavalry Division Artillery, Fort Cavazos, TX, Special Operations Command Africa, Stuttgart, Germany, 2-17 Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA, and Operations Group, Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Johnson, LA. His deployments include three tours in Iraq (2003-04, 2005-06, 2009-10) with the 101st and 1st Infantry Divisions, and Korea Rotational Force 12 in 2021 with the 2nd Infantry Division.
His awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal (with 1 oak leaf cluster), the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (with 1 oak leak cluster), Meritorious Service Medal (with 2 oak leaf clusters), Iraq Campaign Medal (with 2 campaign stars), the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Meritorious Unit Commendation (with oak leaf cluster), the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, The Army Superior Unit Award, the Combat Action Badge, Expert Infantryman Badge, Parachutists Badge and the Air Assault Badge. COL Cummings is a Legionnaire in the Order of Saint Maurice, holds the Bronze Medallion in the Order of Saint George, and is a member of the Field Artillery Association’s Honorable Order of Saint Barbara. He holds master’s degrees from the University of Louisiana and The George Washington University.
COL Cummings is married to the former Erin Myers, PharmD, of Morgan City, LA, and they have two daughters, Sophie Grace and Julia Katherine.
