Chris Gibson grew up in a working class family in Columbia County, in the town of Kinderhook. The son of a union man, Chris attended local public school Ichabod Crane and was the Point Guard and Co-Captain of the High School Basketball Team.
At 17, Chris enlisted in the New York National Guard and later earned an ROTC Commission at nearby Siena College. The first in his family to go to college, Chris graduated magna cum laude with a BA in History. He later earned an MPA and PhD in Government from Cornell University and is the author of Securing the State, a book on national security decision-making published in 2008.
Over the course of his 24 year Army career, Chris rose to the rank of Colonel and deployed seven times. This included four combat tours to Iraq, and separate deployments to Kosovo, the Southwestern US for a counter-drug operation, and most recently - just prior to his retirement - Haiti where he commanded the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team (BCT) during the opening month of that humanitarian relief operation. The Secretary of the Army awarded the BCT the Superior Unit Award for their actions in Haiti.
Chris earned two Legions of Merit, four Bronze Star Medals, the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge with Star, the Master Parachutist Badge and the Ranger Tab. For their actions in Mosul in support of the first national election in the new Iraq, his Battalion Task Force earned the Valorous Unit Award. For their actions in Tal Afar during the 2nd and 3rd national elections in Iraq his Battalion and the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment were recognized for excellence by President George W. Bush and earned a 2nd Valorous Unit Award.
Other key assignments included tours teaching American Politics at the United States Military Academy at West Point, serving as a Congressional Fellow with US Representative Jerry Lewis (R-CA), the Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, and completing a Hoover National Security Affairs Fellowship at Stanford University. Chris was also the Distinguished Honor Graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College.
After retiring from the Army in 2010, Chris and his family returned home to Kinderhook and now live around the corner from where he grew up and his mom still lives. He was elected to represent the 20th Congressional District in 2010 and re-elected in 2012 to represent the 19th Congressional District.
In Congress, Chris serves on the House Armed Services Committee (Subcommittees: Tactical Air and Land Forces; Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities; Military Personnel), the House Agriculture Committee (Subcommittees: General Farm Commodities and Risk Management; Livestock, Rural Development, and Credit), and the Republican Policy Committee.
Chris has been married to Mary Jo, a NYS Licensed Clinical Social Worker, for over 17 years and they have three children: Katie (15), Maggie (13) and Connor (11). Chris is active in several civic organizations in Kinderhook, including the American Legion, VFW, NRA, the Knights of Columbus and St. John’s Church of Valatie.
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