General Altenburg grew up in Dayton, before his family moved to Detroit.  After college, he taught English at Elder High School before entering the US Army in 1968.  He trained at Fort Bragg as an aerial observer and imagery interpreter in Military Intelligence, then deployed to Vietnam in 1969 to serve in the 9th Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta.  Upon returning to the U.S., he used the GI bill to attend the University of Cincinnati College of Law, graduating in 1973.

General Altenburg then was commissioned in the US Army as a JAG officer.  His initial assignments were at Fort Bragg (Fort Liberty) where he served as a criminal defense attorney and then as a prosecutor and legal advisor for 5th Special Forces Group and later as the XVIII Airborne Corps Chief Prosecutor.  He qualified as a Special Forces officer before assignment to 5th SF Group. During his subsequent 24 years as an Army judge advocate, he served 3 tours in Germany, deployed to Desert Storm in 1991 with 1st Armored Division, to South Florida in 1992 with XVIII Airborne Corps for Hurricane Andrew humanitarian operations, and to Haiti in 1994 with Joint Task Force 180 where the Joint Task Force ejected the military dictator and restored the democratic government consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolutions.

General Altenburg was the Army’s Deputy Judge Advocate General from 1997-2001.  Following his 2002 retirement, he was a consultant to the President, World Bank Group on corporate governance and business ethics before moving to Greenberg Traurig, a large international law firm.  In 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld named him as the Military Commissions appointing authority to oversee the trial of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  He served in that position until 2006, then returned to his law firm.

General Altenburg’s military decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Master Parachutist Badge, Combat Diver’s Badge, and Special Forces Tab.