Courtesy Photo | U.S. Army Col. Crystal D. Ernst is the commander of the 2nd Theater Signal Brigade,...... read more read more
U.S. Army Col. Crystal D. Ernst is the commander of the 2nd Theater Signal Brigade, headquartered at U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden, Germany. The brigade delivers integrated and interoperable theater communications and cyber capabilities to enable decision dominance across all levels and phases of war in support of combat forces and mission partners in Europe and Africa.
A native of Wasilla, Alaska, Ernst attended Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa, Idaho, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education. She taught high school for the Lower Kuskokwim School District in rural Alaska before enlisting in the Army in 2001. She deployed twice to Iraq with the 82nd Signal Battalion.
Ernst was commissioned in the Signal Corps through Officer Candidate School in May 2005. She served as a platoon leader in the 67th Signal Battalion at Fort Gordon, Georgia, and deployed to Taji, Iraq, as the officer in charge of a Direct Signal Support Team.
She then served as the detachment commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 59th Signal Battalion, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
Following her command, Ernst was assigned to the Army Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, where she served as the Signal Branch future readiness officer and the aide-de-camp to the commanding general.
In 2016, she assumed the position of operations officer, then executive officer, at the 509th Signal Battalion in Vicenza, Italy.
Ernst later moved to Tampa, Florida, and served within the U.S. Central Command J6 as an exercise planner, executive officer and cyber strategy branch chief. She worked as a mission command program analyst within the Headquarters, Department of the Army G-8, Program, Analysis and Evaluation Directorate before assuming command of the 102nd Strategic Signal Battalion on July 19, 2022.
She completed a fellowship at the George C. Marshall Center in Garmisch, Germany. Before her current assignment, Ernst served as the chief of plans and engineering, J6, U.S. Africa Command, responsible for planning, engineering and integrating communications and information technology capabilities in support of USAFRICOM operations across the African continent.
Ernst is a graduate of the Signal Officer Basic Course, the Signal Captains Career Course, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the Army War College. She holds a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from American Military University.
Her major awards include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal and Army Achievement Medal.
(Current as of June 26, 2026)
| Date Taken: | 06.25.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 06.26.2026 06:08 |
| Story ID: | 568643 |
| Location: | WIESBADEN, HESSEN, DE |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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