Hector E. Pagan - Military Career

Military Career

He attended the Infantry Officers Basic Course and Ranger School in 1980, and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 51st Infantry, in Germany, as a Rifle Platoon Leader, Company Executive Officer and Scout Platoon Leader.

In 1983, he attended the Infantry Officers Advanced Course and remained at Fort Benning, Georgia, with the Infantry Training Group and the 29th Infantry Regiment, where he served as chief, Special Weapons Committee, operations officer, and commanded the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Bn., 29th Infantry Regiment from 1984 to1986. He volunteered to attend Special Forces training and was assigned to 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne).

Pagan served in Panama with the 3rd Bn., 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1988–1990, as an A-Detachment commander and Battalion S1. He served in Operation Just Cause which was the invasion of Panama by the United States that deposed general, dictator and de facto Panamanian military leader Manuel Noriega in December 1989, during the administration of U.S. President George H. W. Bush, and later that same year was deployed to El Salvador. From 1990 to 1992, he served in Special Forces Branch, Total Army Personnel Command as a future readiness officer and captains assignments officer.

He attended the Army Command and General Staff Course and then served as the executive officer, 1st Bn., 7th SF Group (Airborne). From 1994-1995, he served in the U.S. Army Special Operations Command as the chief, officer management, office of the deputy chief of staff for personnel. He returned to the 7th SF Group (Airborne) in 1995, where he served as group operations officer, executive officer and deputy commander. From 1998-2000, Pagan commanded the 2nd Battalion, 1st SF Group (Airborne) at Fort Lewis, Washington. After his tour with the 1st SF Group, he was assigned to the Special Operations Command South, Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, where he served as the director of operations, J3, from 2000 to 2002. Here he earned the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation.

Upon completion of the U.S. Army War College in 2003, Pagan took command of the 5th SF Group (Airborne) in Baghdad, Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom. He led the 5th SF Group (Airborne) in combat as the commander of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force in the Arabian Peninsula for two combat tours in 2003 and 2004.

In 2005, Pagan served as the special assistant to the commander of the United States Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. In 2006, he assumed duties as the deputy director of the Operations Support Group in the Center for Special Operations in the U.S. Special Operations Command. Pagan became the deputy commander, U.S. Army Special Operations Command in November 2006 and in May 2007 assumed duties as deputy commander, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.