John W. Nicholson Jr.

In January 2019, Nicholson was found to be responsible, along with General Francis H. Kearney III and Marine investigator Patrick Pihana, of gross errors in judgment in false accusations against a seven member Marine elite commando force in 2007. The group was expelled from Afghanistan in 2007 amid unproven allegations that they massacred innocent bystanders in the frantic minutes following an ambush. They were cleared of wrongdoing more than a year later, after the case was heard by a military court. However, Nicholson and Kearney did little to set the record straight for 11 years. The group was fully vindicated in report approved in January 2019 by the Navy Department. Nicholson retired from the Army in 2018 before the report was published.

Nicholson told the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2016 that "Since 9/11, the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan has largely defined my service." Nicholson was given command of the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, amid a worsening security situation.

Nicholson was the deputy director of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization. He became commander of the 82nd Airborne Division in 2012. In 2014 Nicholson took control of the NATO Allied Land Command in Izmir, Turkey. As Allied Land Commander, he was responsible for commanding multiple NATO Corps in the event of large-scale war. This involved training of the nine NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Headquarters and drafting defensive plans for the Alliance in the face of emergent threats.

John W. Nicholson Jr. graduated from West Point in 1982 and was commissioned into the infantry. He earned a Bronze Star with "V" device as a paratroop lieutenant during the invasion of Grenada in 1983.

His earlier career duties included serving ten years on jump status, commanding companies in the 82nd Airborne Division and the 75th Ranger Regiment. As a Colonel, Nicholson served in the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York. He commanded the Army's first Stryker Infantry Battalion, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry, the "Tomahawks" and one of the Army's first modular Brigade Combat Teams (BCT), 3rd BCT, 10th Mountain, the "Spartans". In these latter two commands and as Commanding General of the 82nd Airborne Division, he was instrumental in leading change within the Army to build new capabilities which adapted the Army for current and future warfare. As a Lieutenant Colonel, he served in the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington; and as a Major, he served in the 1st and 3rd Infantry (Mechanized) Divisions in Germany.

John William Nicholson Jr. (born May 8, 1957) is a retired United States Army four-star general who last commanded U.S. Forces - Afghanistan (USFOR-A) and the 41-nation NATO-led Resolute Support Mission from March 30, 2016 to September 2, 2018, succeeding General John F. Campbell. He was the longest-serving commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, having been the senior officer in theatre for more than 2 years, 5 months. He was previously commanding general, Allied Land Command from October 2014 and commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. Nicholson is the son of John W. Nicholson, also a former general officer in the United States Army, distantly related to British Brigadier John Nicholson (1822–1857).