Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich
Commander, U.S. European Command
Alexus G. “Grynch” Grynkewich earned an undergraduate degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy. He holds an M.A. In history from the University of Georgia, and has completed many other courses afforded him through the U.S. military. He went through pilot training at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma and was an F-16C student at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. He later became an F-16C instructor pilot.
Grynkewich has been stationed in South Korea and Germany. He served in a number of staff assignments, rising through the ranks until he became Commander, Ninth Air Force, and Combined Forces Air Component Commander, U.S. Central Command, in July 2022.
Grynkewich was promoted to General and assigned as Commander of the U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe in July 2025.
Grynkewich is a command pilot with more than 2,300 flying hours.
In the News…
General Alexus Grynkewich, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said that Russia and China are increasingly working together in the Arctic.
“It’s not for peaceful purposes,” General Grynkewich said. “They’re not studying the seals and the polar bears. They’re out there doing bathymetric surveys and trying to figure out how they can counter NATO capabilities on and under the sea. So that’s something that could grow very quickly, and we need to be mindful of it and ready for it.”
General Grynkewich spoke at the Swedish national security conference about how the two nations are cooperating, now that Arctic ice reductions have increased access to the region.
“In the Arctic and the high north, we see a similar trend,” General Grynkewich said. “Russian and Chinese vessels are conducting more and more joint patrols. Chinese icebreakers and research vessels are in Arctic waters, and their research is not for peaceful purposes. It’s to gain a military advantage.”
