Lieutenant General (Ret.) Marvin D. Brailsford was born in Burkeville, Texas on January 31, 1939.  He graduated cum laude and as a distinguished military graduate from Prairie View A&M College with a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1959.  He went on to receive a master’s degree in bacteriology from Iowa State University.  His educational pursuits also include completion of the Executive Program at the Graduate School of Business, University of California at Berkeley; graduate of the Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, the Army War College, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the Chemical School Advance Course and the Armor Officer Basic Course.

General Brailsford culminated his 33 years of military service as the deputy-commanding general of the United States Army Materiel Command in 1992.  During his Army career, he held several key positions including, commanding general of the U.S. Army Armament, Munitions, and Chemical Command, the 59th Ordnance Brigade, the 60th Ordnance Group, 101st Ordnance Battalion and other staff assignments in Vietnam, Germany and the United States.