John Ironwood

John Ironwood
General Ironwood in general duty uniform following his promotion to General, 2022.
Born	(1971-07-12)12 July 1971 Tullamarina, Smith Island Territory, Meridon
Allegiance	Meridon
Service/branch	Meridonian Army
Years of service	1993 - Present
Rank	General
Commands held	26 Regiment Galleston Mechanized 16 Division Infantry II Corps
Battles/wars	Maltikan Conflict Cerdanian Emergency War in New England
Awards	see below

General John Ironwood, OGM, OD, DSSC (born 12 July 1971) is a Meridonian Army general who currently serves as Commander, Land Operations, Joint Forces Command. He previously served as the commanding officer of 26 Regiment Galleston Mechanized Infantry and 16 Division Infantry where he successfully lead campaigns in Maltika and Cerdania, and served as Commander, Combined Task Force Oak Hand during the War in New England.

Early Life

Ironwood was born on 12 July 1971 in Tullamarina, Smith Island Territory. He is of Irish and English descent. His father, Mason, served in the Meridonian Army from 1957 to 1969, achieving the rank of Sergeant and seeing multiple combat deployments as an artilleryman before retiring. After his service, Mason worked as a salesman, truck driver, and finally as a shipyard worker and later site manager at Algiers Shipwrights (later Algiers Maritime Engineering). His mother, Josephine (née Russet) served briefly as a naval logistics officer in Alexandria and worked as a schoolteacher afterwards.

Ironwood was educated in a series of Catholic private and charter schools in Smith Island Territory, where he took up football, wrestling and found a love for outdoorsmanship. At the age of eight he joined with a Tullamarina Scouts troop, an organization which he remained in until the age of seventeen upon becoming a Wedgetail. Ironwood attributes much of his success due to the time he spent in Scouts and remains a strong advocate for the organization.

Ironwood attended Saint Jeanne Military Academy, a preparatory boarding school, for secondary education- a highly competitive school, from which graduation virtually guarantees entry into one of the federal service academies. Ironwood excelled in this school, serving as Cadet Commanding Officer and graduating as salutatorian in 1989. He was accepted to the Federal Military Academy in Newcastle and attended in 1989.

Military Career

Ironwood was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1993 and was posted as a staff officer in A Company, 8 Batallion Ranger, 41 Regiment Rangers, where he served until 1998 in roles including a platoon commander, company executive officer, and company officer commanding. He was promoted to Major in 1999, when he participated in the Maltikan Conflict as a battalion staff and planning officer. Ironwood was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 2000 following action in Maltika and received a battlefield promotion to Colonel the same year, taking command of 26 Regiment Galleston Mechanized following the death of Colonel Richard Girden in action.

Ironwood was crucial in organizing the defense of Yomium against a numerically superior force and directed a successful counteroffensive operation against Maltikan Liberation Army forces that lead to a collapse of organized resistance within the country within a week, actions that saw him promoted personally by President Marc Fontaine to the rank of Regimental General and inducted into the Order of Grand Marina following the conclusion of the conflict. He briefly served in the divisional staff of 16 Division Infantry. In 2008, he was sent to the Defense Senior Staff College, returning to 16 Division in 2010 to serve as its executive officer before taking command of the division in 2013.

As Officer Commanding he oversaw the division's participation in the Marquesan Emergency of 2015, where his actions were credited with the preservation of government forces, and subsequent maneuvers brought the conflict to a close within 48 hours. Known popularly as the 'Nuvu Hika Roadtrip', Ironwood's agressive utilization of aerial and precision fires in support of maneuver meant the conflict levied a disproportionately high ratio of hostile to friendly casualties, the fact of which garnered him immense popularity back home and in certain military circles. Ironwood also pioneered the utilization of the 'Army of Sensors' methodology of warfighting, equipping troops with advanced networking technology including drones, smartphone based team management systems, and improved radio systems that allowed formations from the squad level and higher to more readily conduct exploitative maneuvers on the tactical level to take better advantage of battlefield circumstances.

Following the deployment in Marquesan, he served on the corps staff of II Corps. He was promoted to Lieutenant General and officer commanding of II Corps in 2016. In 2018, he directed disciplinary actions against a number of subordinate officers within II Corps following the unveiling of an underground crime ring, a scandal which by association marred his image, although his handling of the situation was later praised. Ironwood was transfered to Joint Forces Command in 2020, and promoted to the rank of General in 2022 upon selection to serve as Commander, Land Operations, Joint Forces Command. In 2023, following the April 2023 kamikaze attacks, Ironwood was tapped to serve as officer commanding of Combined Task Force Oak Hand, a Meridonian-spearheaded military coalition that conducted operations against the Masculist state in New England. Under his leadership, coalition forces toppled the government structure and eliminated tens of thousands of Masculist-aligned troops within seventy-two hours of initiating ground operations, being widely acknowledged as one of the most significant Meridonian military victories in seventy years.

During the Advent Island crisis, Ironwood was suspended by President William Acton after reportedly refusing to serve as an interim Chief of Defense Staff. This suspension was lifted upon the inauguration of President Yui Townley.

Personal Life

Ironwood has personal residences in Cordelia and in Rossbrook, Smith Island Territory, and is active in support of multiple civilian organizations, including serving as a member of the Board of Trustees for Saint Jeanne Military Academy and as an outspoken proponent for Scouts Meridon. In an interview in 2018, Ironwood stated his hobbies included camping, cooking, and target shooting. He has never married nor had children, and has joked that 'the Army is my wife'.

Honors and Awards

• Order of Grand Marina, Knight Commander
• Order of Distinction, Second Class
• Defense Superior Service Cross