MADISON – Jeff Mockensturm was commissioned Army 2nd Lieutenant and entered active duty in September 1985. He retired as Colonel in 2014 with almost 29 years of service.

Mockensturm attended ROTC Basic in Fort Lewis, Wash. and Officer Basic Course at Redstone Arsenal. He first deployed to Camp Sears in Uijongbu, Korea as Missile Support Platoon Leader, 2nd Infantry Division.

At Redstone Arsenal, he was Missile R&D Officer and XO to PEO for Fire Support Missiles. From 1990-1993, he was in Germany with 8th Infantry Division, 2nd Armor Division as Battalion Staff Officer, Missile Support Company Commander.

In Monterey, Calif., Mockensturm attended Naval Postgraduate School. At Fort Belvoir, Va., he worked at Army Research Office in Washington, D.C. He reported to Fort Leavenworth, Kan. for Army Command and General Staff Officer’s Course.

In Huntsville, he served as Assistant Project Manager on THAAD and XO to PEO for Air and Missile Defense. “In 2001-2003 at the Pentagon, I was Science and Technology Program Analyst on the Army staff,” Mockensturm said.

He returned as Product Manager for THAAD Radar and then Director of Experiments, Operational Testing. He was Army War College fellow at University of Texas – Austin.

Mockensturm served as Project Manager for Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems in Fort Monmouth, N.J. with two combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He then was Military Deputy to Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center with combat tour as Science Advisor to U.S. Forces, Afghanistan, Kabul. In 2014, he retired from the Army and joined Trident Technologies.

Mockensturm grew up outside Toledo, Ohio. The Mockensturms moved to Madison as a family in 1998, returned in 2003 and retired here in 2014. “I guess Madison is our hometown now.”

He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science engineering at University of Toledo and a master’s degree in management at Naval Postgraduate School.

Alice Bloodworth Mockensturm, a Columbus, Miss. native, worked as an Army civilian until their first son was born. Son Matthew, 23, recently graduated from Calhoun Community College. Son Mitchell, 20, is a University of Alabama in Huntsville sophomore.

They are members of Madison United Methodist Church. Alice has taught Sunday school. He sings in two choirs.

An outdoors enthusiast, Mockensturm likes “fishing, hunting, shooting sports, golf and gardening … whatever’s in season, I’m game.”