Photos courtesy of the Dalton Daily Citizen. Caption: Brigadier General Marcus S. Evans, deputy commanding general, 3rd Infantry Division and a native of Dalton, is pinned by his wife, Kelly Evans, and Gen. Raymond A. Thomas, commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, during a promotion ceremony at Fort Stewart, GA.

Brigadier General Marcus S. Evans said he really wasn’t planning a career in the military when he was a boy, but looking back, he can see how his childhood in Dalton prepared him for the Army.

“I enjoyed hiking in the mountains of north Georgia,” he said. “Playing sports, I learned about teamwork, perseverance and hard work. And all of that has proved useful to me.”

Evans, Dalton High School Class of ’88, was recently promoted to general in a ceremony at Fort Stewart near Savannah. He is now deputy commanding general (support) for the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, one of two deputy commanding generals for the division.

Evans said he didn’t start thinking about entering the service until college. He attended Tennessee Technological University on a football scholarship and then joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).

“It was in college that I first really started thinking about joining the Army,” he said. “It came about after conversations with a friend there about the opportunities that had been afforded to members of his family through ROTC.”

After graduating, Evans was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment at Fort Lewis. After completing that assignment, he served with the 3rd Ranger Battalion at Fort Benning. That was followed by assignments to the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Ranger Battalion, 1st Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment headquarters and 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He commanded the 3rd Ranger Battalion from July 2011 to June 2013 and was assigned to Joint Special Operations Command from July 2014 to February 2015. He was commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment from 2015 to 2017.

Caption: Gen. Evans recites the Oath of Commissioned Officers to Gen. Thomas at the Ft. Stewart promotion.

Evans’ high school football coach Bill Chappell says he’s not surprised by Evans’ success.

“He was always a hard-nosed, tough but fair player,” he said. “He was always a leader, and he didn’t lead with his mouth. He led with his actions. To me, that’s much more important.”

David Evans said he was honored to see his son’s accomplishments celebrated at the ceremony .

“Seeing all of those men and women in uniform makes you really proud,” he said. “Very few officers reach this rank. We’ve always been proud of him, but watching that ceremony and knowing what it represents, we were very proud of him that day.”

Read Charles Oliver’s full article here.