Lieutenant General Mingus graduated from Winona State University, Minnesota, in May 1985 and was commissioned through the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) as a second lieutenant. In March 1988, he was posted to his first operational assignment as a platoon leader in 5th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, Seventh Army, in Germany. Over the course of four years, he also served as the battalion’s executive officer and maintenance officer. He returned to the United States in April 1992, being posted as B Company commander with the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. After two years, the Army transferred Mingus to take command of the Long Range Surveillance Detachment, 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, in the same airborne division. After eight months, he became an aide-de-camp to the division’s commanding general. After one year as an aide, Mingus remained at Fort Bragg, taking command of the Long Range Surveillance Company, 519th Military Intelligence Battalion (Tactical Exploitation) (Airborne), with the XVIII Airborne Corps. In August 1997, he returned to ROTC to become an assistant professor of military science at the University of Tennessee–Knoxville. After three years, the Army subsequently sent Mingus to the Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. A year later, he was posted to the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, where he served as a liaison officer and operations officer. In January 2003, Mingus returned to Fort Bragg, becoming chief of the Joint Planning Group, then chief of current operations, both with Joint Special Operations Command. After two and a half years, Mingus moved to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he took command of the 4th Ranger Training Battalion of the Ranger Training Brigade. In July 2007, he took command of Regimental Special Troops in the 75th Ranger Regiment on the same post. Mingus subsequently reported in August 2009 to the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. A year later, Mingus took command of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, at Fort Carson, Colorado. In March 2013, Mingus reported to US Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, where he became chief of the Commander’s Action Group. After just over a year in that position, he transferred to the J-5 directorate, serving as the deputy director of the Special Plans Working Group. In September 2015, Mingus returned to Fort Carson and the 4th Infantry Division to serve as the division’s deputy commanding general (maneuver). After eleven months, he became director of the Mission Command Center of Excellence at the US Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth. Two years later, Mingus took command of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. Following this assignment, Mingus reported to the Joint Staff at the Pentagon in October 2020, serving first as the director for operations before assuming the duties as director of the Joint Staff in June 2022.