FORT BELVOIR, Va. (April 20, 2018) — A Hampton Roads area native and graduate of Tabb High School was promoted to the rank of Army brigadier general in a ceremony here April 19.
Brig. Gen. Maria A. Biank, U.S. Army Cyber Command’s operations officer, joined the ranks of the Army’s general officer corps when she was promoted to brigadier general in a ceremony hosted by Maj. Gen. John B. Morrison Jr., commander of the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Gordon, Ga.
Biank began her 28-year Army career by completing a bachelor’s degree at the College of William and Mary in 1990 and being commissioned through the college’s Reserve Officer Training Corps program as a signal officer in the regular Army.
Her first assignment was as a signal communications platoon leader for the 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery (Hawk), 32nd Army Air Defense Command, and platoon leader for the 32nd’s 11th Air Defense Signal Battalion.
The general’s assignments from 1995-2002 included service as assistant operations officer and commander of Company D, 51st Signal Battalion (Airborne), 35th Signal Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C.; as signal officer for the 524th Military Intelligence Battalion in Seoul, Republic of Korea; as signal officer for the Army Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Belvoir; and as an intern via the eArmyU program with the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs with simultaneous duties as a White House Social Aide.
Biank deployed to Iraq in 2003 to serve as deputy signal officer for the 4th Infantry Division in Tikrit and executive officer of the 1st Cavalry Division’s 13th Signal Battalion in Baghdad. Those tours were followed by duty at Fort Hood, Texas as deputy signal officer for the 1st Cavalry Division during Operations Katrina and Rita.
In 2006 the general was assigned as executive assistant to the director of the Defense Information Systems Agency and commander, Joint Task Force Global Network Operations, in Arlington, Va.
From 2008-2011 she served as signal officer for the 3rd Infantry Division in Tikrit and at Fort Stewart, Ga. She then was assigned to the transition team for 37th Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey and the Department of the Army operations division.
She commanded of the 93rd Signal Brigade at Fort Eustis, Va., assuming responsibility for 34 Army Network Enterprise Centers east of the Mississippi River, from 2012-2014. She then was assigned as joint operations officer the Joint Force Headquarters – DoD Information Networks, at Fort Meade, Md., followed by service at the Pentagon as executive officer to the Army’s Chief Information Officer.
Biank’s education includes a bachelor’s degree in history from the College of William and Mary and master’s degrees in military history from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and in national resource strategy from the National Defense University’s Industrial College of the Armed Forces. She is a graduate of the Army’s Signal Officer Basic and Advanced Courses.
Her military awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service medal with oak leaf cluster; the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster; the Bronze Star with two oak leaf clusters; the Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters; the Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters; the Army Achievement Medal with oak leaf cluster; the National Defense Service Medal with one star; Armed Forces Service Medal; the Iraq Campaign Medal with two stars; the Global War on Terrorism Medals (Expeditionary and Service); the Korean Defense Service Medal; the Humanitarian Service Medal; the Army Service Medal and Overseas Service Medal with numeral 4. She is authorized to wear the Meritorious Unit Citation, the Army Staff Identification Badge and the Parachutist Badge. She has been awarded the Bronze Order Mercury and the Noble Patron of Armor.
Biank and her husband, an Army colonel and armor officer, have one child.
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