Carsten Jacobson

Major General Carsten Jacobson (born 1955 in Hamburg) is a German Army officer and currently commander of the 1st Panzer Division.

Military career
Jacobson joined the Bundeswehr in 1974 and trained as a tank commander. In 1976 he was promoted to Leutnant and 1979 to Oberleutnant. In 1982 he was promoted to Hauptmann as Kompaniechef of tank bataillion 333 in Celle. From 1986 to 1988 Jacobson completed the German General Staff training at the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr in Hamburg and was promoted to Major in 1989. From 1990 to 1992 Jacobson completed the Staff College in Camberley and was promoted to Oberstleutnant.

From 1997 to 1998 Jacobson served abroad as part of SFOR in Bosnia and Herzegowina. In 1999 he was promoted to Oberst. In 2001, Jacobson was transferred to the Embassy of Germany, Washington, D.C. where he served until 2005.

In 2006 he was promoted to Brigadegeneral. In 2007 Jacobson was transferred to the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) headquarters in Mönchengladbach where he served under Lieutenant-General Richard Shirreff.

In 2009, Jacobson became Chief of Staff under Generalleutnant Carl-Hubertus von Butler. In 2011, he succeeded Josef Blotz as spokesman for ISAF.

In 2012, he succeeded Major General Markus Kneip as the commander of the 1st Panzer Division.

Honors

 * Badge of Honour of the Bundeswehr in Bronze (1983), in Silver (1989) and Gold (1994)
 * German Armed Forces Service Medal SFOR (1998),
 * NATO-Medal (1998)
 * Legion of Merit (2005).

Private life
Jacobson has a British wife, Sally Jane (nee McBride), a former Women's Royal Army Corps officer. They married in 1979 and have two sons.