McConville was born and raised in the Merrymount neighborhood of Quincy, Massachusetts, near Boston.

He graduated from Archbishop Williams High School in Braintree and then attended the United States Military Academy where he was commissioned as an Infantry officer in the United States Army after his graduation in 1981.

[4][5] He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy, a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, and was a 2002 National Security Fellow at Harvard University.

McConville's key staff assignments include the U.S. Army deputy chief of staff, G-1; chief of legislative liaison; executive officer to the vice chief of staff of the Army; G-3 for 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault); J5 strategic planner for U.S. Special Operations Command; S-3 for 25th Combat Aviation Brigade; S-3 for 5th Squadron, 9th Cavalry; and S-3 for Flight Concepts Division.

McConville is a master army aviator qualified in the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, the AH-64D Longbow Apache, the AH-6, AH-1 Cobra and other aircraft.