Pennsylvania’s Adjutant General and head of the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, which is headquartered at Fort Indiantown Gap, announced his retirement after nearly four decades of service with the PA National Guard.
Major General Mark Schindler, who announced his retirement on Monday, Sept. 23, was nominated to continue to serve as the 54th Adjutant General of Pennsylvania and was confirmed by the state Senate on April 26, 2023.
“Major General Mark Schindler has spent his career serving and protecting our Commonwealth and our nation,” Governor Josh Shapiro said in a release. “He has led the Pennsylvania National Guard and Department of Military and Veteran Affairs with extraordinary honor and integrity. On behalf of a grateful Commonwealth, I want to thank General Schindler for his service, and I wish him and his family all the best during a well-deserved retirement.”
As the head of the PA National Guard and DMVA, Schindler oversees a combined state and federal budget of over $966 million at the Annville area military base. He is responsible for the command and control of over 18,000 Army and Air National Guard members (the third largest National Guard in the nation), as well as a complement of 2,500 commonwealth employees, care of residential cadets at the Keystone State ChalleNGe Academy, and six state-owned veterans homes and programs for Pennsylvania’s more than 700,000 veterans.
“It has been a tremendous honor to serve as Pennsylvania’s Adjutant General,” Schindler said in a prepared statement. “I am grateful to Governor Shapiro and his administration for their unwavering support of the Pennsylvania National Guard and Pennsylvania’s more than 700,000 veterans. I am honored to have served shoulder-to-shoulder with soldiers and airmen who will continue to be Always Ready, Always There, Always on Mission, serving the people of Pennsylvania and our nation.”
Schindler officially steps down on Tuesday, Oct. 1, and the governor plans to nominate a new Adjutant General after that date.
Under Schindler’s leadership, the DMVA in May 2023 broke ground on a $97 million, 200-bed long-term care building for veterans in need of skilled nursing and memory care at the Hollidaysburg Veterans’ Home campus in Blair County. He was instrumental in securing $1.4 million for a new walk-in outreach center for veterans, situated outside of the secure perimeter of FTIG, in the 2024-25 state budget. And last year, the DMVA helped to secure nearly a billion dollars in claims to Pennsylvania veterans for benefits they earned during their service – an 18 percent increase from the previous year.
Schindler previously served as Assistant Adjutant General and Chief of Staff of the PA Army National Guard, and in a variety of command and staff positions within the Guard. He deployed as commander of the 55th Military Engagement Team in Jordan during combat operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2012-13.
Born in Buffalo, New York, he received a two-year ROTC scholarship from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and was commissioned in 1987, earning a bachelor’s degree in communications. He earned a master’s degree in communications from Clarion University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and a master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College in 2011.
His awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit (2nd Award), Meritorious Service Medal (4th Award), Army Commendation Medal (2nd Award), Army Achievement Medal (2nd Award), Air Force Achievement Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal (3rd Award), National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal (3rd Award), Armed Forces Reserve Medal with M-Device, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon (5th Award).
Schindler and his wife, Colette, have two adult children, David and Beth Rose.
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