General Bryan Fenton, having served as the commander of United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), is now retiring after a distinguished career in the U.S. Army. He was succeeded by Admiral Frank Bradley during a change of command ceremony at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida on Friday, October 3, 2025.
Fenton was the 13th commander of USSOCOM, serving since August 2022. He had succeeded General Richard Clarke (U.S. Army). He sent out a farewell letter to the members of USSOCOM on October 2, 2025, the day before his change of command ceremony with Admiral Frank Bradley.
As the USSOCOM commander, he oversaw all special operations for the U.S. Department of Defense with 70,000 Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Special Operations personnel and an annual budget of $14 billion. Prior to serving as commander of USSOCOM he was the commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).
Additional past assignments include command of U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific (SOCPAC). He started his career as an Infantry Rifle Platoon Leader in the 502nd Infantry Regiment and then went on to serve as a detachment commander in 7th Special Forces Group. He would later spend a significant amount of time with JSOC as well as in higher level joint positions within the Department of Defense.
His deployments took him to all theaters where conflict was taking place during a career that spanned decades. He deployed multiple times to Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, Philippines, and other locations. During his time with USSOCOM Fenton was focused on the priorities of People, Win, and Transform, and his leadership embodied the first SOF Truth: humans are more important than hardware.
**********
Image: General Bryan Fenton, USSOCOM commander, addresses the audience at SOF Week 2023. Photo by Michael Bottoms, USSOCOM, May 9, 2023.
Biography: DoD bio.
