Major Mike Ecklund grew up in Gaithersburg, MD. He graduated from Gaithersburg High School in 2007 and attended the United States Military Academy. He graduated from West Point in 2011 and commissioned into the Engineers.
His first assignment was as a Sapper Platoon Leader in the 57th Sapper Company, 27th Engineer Battalion at Fort Bragg, NC. (Fort Bragg is now named Fort Liberty.) He deployed to Logar, Afghanistan as a route clearance platoon leader in 2013. Following this, he became the aide-de-camp for the Deputy Commanding General – Operations at the XVIII Airborne Corps and deployed again to Kabul, Afghanistan in 2014.
Ecklund attended the U.S. Marine Corps Expeditionary Warfare School (EWS) from July 2015 to May 2016. After EWS, he was assigned to 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division where he served as a brigade plans officer and company commander for HHC, 1st Engineer Battalion.
In 2018, Ecklund attended graduate school at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville. From 2020 to 2023, he served as an instructor in the United States Military Academy’s Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering. In 2023, he came back home to Rocky Top as an Assistant Professor of Military Science.
MAJ Ecklund’s awards and decorations include:
- the Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Army Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with campaign star, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Korean Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Army Overseas Service Ribbon, and the NATO Non-Article 5 Medal.
He is a graduate of the Sapper Leader Course, Jumpmaster School, and Air Assault School.
MAJ Ecklund’s greatest accomplishment in life is convincing his wife, Katie, to marry him. Together, they have four sons, Johnathan, Landon, William, and Lee, whose interests include dinosaurs, fossil hunting, roller coasters, Power Rangers, and watching hours of Bluey (which MAJ Ecklund also secretly enjoys).