John "Don" Kaminar

John I. Kaminar began his military service in 1983 as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry in the United States Army. During ten years of active duty, he served an initial assignment in Germany, followed by six years with the renowned 101st Airborne Division. He transferred to the Army Reserve in 1993 and served for another twenty years, culminating in his assignment as State Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer for Arkansas. He has served on peacekeeping duty in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and in combat in the Persian Gulf War and the War in Afghanistan. He is qualified as a Ranger and paratrooper and is a graduate of the Army’s Command and General Staff College and Air Command and Staff College. His military decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Air Force Achievement Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge. He retired from military service in 2013.

Col. Kaminar has pursued civilian service as an educator in Arkansas schools, initially as a foreign language teacher and then as an administrator. Currently he serves as Military Family Engagement Advisor at the Arkansas Department of Education. Col. Kaminar has served as Arkansas’ commissioner for the Military Interstate Children’s Compact Commission since 2015 and was national chair of the Commission from 2018 through 2021. He has chaired the Arkansas Council for Military Children since 2015. He holds a B.A. in foreign languages from Texas A. and M. University and an M. Ed. in secondary education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The son, son-in-law, and father of combat veterans,

Col. Kaminar resides in Maumelle, Arkansas with his wife of 31 years, the former Toni Davis, an “Army brat” who serves in the office of the chief of staff of the Veterans Administration Regional Healthcare Center in Nort Little Rock, Arkansas.