Marvin L. Hill

2022 Veteran Leadership Award Recipient

Command Sergeant Major Marvin L. Hill retired from the United States Army on January 31, 2013 after serving 35 years, culminating with a 19-month tour in Afghanistan as the Command Senior Enlisted Leader for International Security Assistance Force and United States Forces-Afghanistan. Prior to that, he served two years as the Command Senior Enlisted Leader of United States Central Command.

CSM (Ret) Hill’s assignments included Fort Lewis, Washington; Fort Kobbe, Panama; Fort Knox, Kentucky; West Point, New York; Fort Bliss, Texas; Camp Hovey, Korea; Fort Gillem, Georgia; MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; and four tours with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He also had contingency deployments twice to the Sinai, once to Kosovo, twice to Iraq, and once to Afghanistan.

In addition to Afghanistan (ISAF and USFOR-A) and U.S. Central Command, Hill’s command sergeant major positions include Battalion, Brigade, and Division Command Sergeant Major in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault); First Army; Joint Task Force-Katrina in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita; KFOR-3A (Kosovo); Multinational Force and Observers (Sinai); and as the Command Senior Enlisted Leader of Multinational Force-Iraq (MNFI) during “The Surge”.

Command Sergeant Major Hill’s awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguish Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal (Seventh Award), the NATO Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal for Valor, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Combat Action Badge. Marvin is a 2017 recipient of the FedEx Five Star Award that recognizes employee accomplishments that demonstrate innovation, collaboration, efficiency, or profitability associated with results.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Liberal Arts and Science from St. Thomas Aquinas College, a Master of Education in Organizational Leadership from Northcentral University, and a Master of Business Administration Certificate of Leadership from Union University. He is a member of the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club and has been awarded the Centurion level of the Order of St. Maurice, the Order of St. Barbara, and the Order of St. Michael. He is also the 2021 recipient of the National Infantry Association Doughboy Award.

Hill resides in Memphis with his wife (Sharon) of 44 years and currently serves as a project management advisor for FedEx Freight. His areas of concentration are Learning and Development and Veteran Initiatives and Programs. He is the chairman of the FedEx Freight Veterans Business Resource Team and is an active participant with the U.S. Chamber Foundation Hiring Our Heroes and the U.S. Chamber Foundation Veteran Employment Advisory Council. He collaborates with FedEx Freight executive leadership to spearhead FedEx Freight’s Trees For Troops campaign which annually delivers and distributes over 18,000 real Christmas trees to military families at over 60 military bases across the United States and overseas.

In 2022, IAVA proudly presented the IAVA Veteran Leadership Award jointly to Gen. David Petraeus and CSM Marvin Hill. In addition to a variety of other assignments throughout their decades-long careers, IAVA Board Member General Petraeus and CSM Hill served as the leadership team for multiple major combat commands in Iraq, Afghanistan, ISAF, and CENTCOM.