George William Casey Jr.

George William Casey, Jr.
born July 21, 1948
General George William Casey Jr. 36th Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1970 - present
Rank	General
Commands	Army Chief of Staff Multinational Force Iraq 1st Armored Division Joint Warfighting Center/Director 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division
Battles/wars	Operation Iraqi Freedom Operation Joint Endeavor (Bosnia)
Awards	Defense Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Service Medal Legion of Merit Defense Meritorious Service Medal

George William Casey, Jr. (born July 21, 1948) is a General in the United States Army and the Chief of Staff of the United States Army. General Casey was the commander of Multinational Force Iraq from June 2004 to February 2007. On January 26, 2007, the United States Senate confirmed General David H. Petraeus for promotion to General with assignment as Casey's replacement in Iraq. Casey was subsequently confirmed as the 36th Chief of Staff of the Army on February 8, 2007. On April 10, Casey replaced General Peter Schoomaker who is retiring. Casey relinquished command in Iraq to Petraeus on February 10, 2007. The change of command was presided over by General John Abizaid, commander of United States Central Command.

Biography

General Casey was born in 1948, in Sendai, Japan. His father, George William Casey, was a West Point graduate who rose to the rank of Major General and served in three wars (the Second World War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War). His father commanded the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam and was killed on July 7, 1970 when his command helicopter crashed in South Vietnam enroute to a hospital to visit wounded U.S. soldiers.

General Casey grew up south of Boston, Massachusetts, in Scituate, Mass. and attended Boston College High School in Dorchester. After high school, he earned his bachelor of science in International Relations from Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and received a master of the arts from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver. He was commissioned through Army ROTC in 1970 following graduation from Georgetown.

General Casey served in the Mechanized Infantry during the command portion of his career. He was commander of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, and the Assistant Division Commander - Maneuver (later Assistant Division Commander - Support) of the 1st Armored Division in Germany. He deployed as part of Operation Joint Endeavor to Bosnia-Herzegovina from July 1996 to August 1997. He and the Rear Command Post staff were based in Slavonski Brod, Croatia. Casey took command of the 1st Armored Division in July 1999.

After relinquishing command of the division in July 2001, General Casey served in a senior staff position in the Pentagon as the Director of Strategic Plans and Policy, J-5, the Joint Staff from October 2001 to January 2003. His next position was Director of The Joint Staff in Washington, D.C. from January 2003 to October 2003. Following these assignments, Casey was nominated and confirmed as the 30th Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, serving in that post until June 2004.

Iraq Command Tour

Casey and Petraeus at the change-of-command ceremony, February 10, 2007.

General Casey served as the senior coalition commander in Iraq from June 2004 to February 2007. He replaced Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez. Casey's goal was to encourage the Iraqis to take ownership of their problems and responsibility for their own security. For his part as a military commander, he focused on training Iraqi forces, limiting the role of American forces, and transferring the burden for providing security to Iraqi forces. Meanwhile, U.S. diplomats would focus on building and strengthening the Iraqi government and help the Iraqis hold elections. He expressed his view that a large and intrusive American presence in Iraq would not solve the political and security problems in that country and could even fuel the insurgency.

In January 2007, General Casey implied his opposition to a troop surge. "The longer we in the U.S. forces continue to bear the main burden of Iraq’s security, it lengthens the time that the government of Iraq has to take the hard decisions about reconciliation and dealing with the militias. And the other thing is that they can continue to blame us for all of Iraq’s problems, which are at base their problems. It’s always been my view that a heavy and sustained American military presence was not going to solve the problems in Iraq over the long term."[1].

In 2005, General Casey was hopeful that the December 2005 Iraqi elections could lead to a more unified and moderate Iraq which -- in conjunction with the training of Iraqi security forces -- could pave the way for U.S. troop reductions in early 2006. In August 2005, Casey used specific troop numbers in his public discussion of a possible drawdown. He said the then current troop level of 138,000 could be reduced by 30,000 in the early months of 2006 as Iraqi security forces took on a greater role. President Bush publicly called the talk "speculation" and rebuked the general. The bombing of the al-Askari Mosque, a sacred Shia religious site in Samarra, is believed to have stoked sectarian tensions and derailed coalition plans to speedily transfer significant security responsibility to the Iraqi government by the end of 2006. [2]

Army Chief of Staff

In January 2007 President George W. Bush nominated Lieutenant General David H. Petraeus for promotion to General and assignment as the coalition commander in Iraq. Casey was concurrently nominated for elevation to Chief of Staff of the Army. The Senate confirmed his nomination on February 8, 2007 with a bipartisan vote of 83-14.

Acting Secretary of the Army Pete Geren swears in U.S. Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. as the 36th Army chief of staff on Fort Myer, Virginia, April 10, 2007. Casey relieved U.S. Army Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker during a change of command ceremony.

On February 10, 2007, Casey relinquished command in Iraq to Petraeus. Casey officially succeeded General Peter Schoomaker as Chief of Staff of the Army on April 10, 2007.

Decorations and Badges

• Defense Distinguished Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)
• Distinguished Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)
• Legion of Merit (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)
• Defense Meritorious Service Medal
• Meritorious Service Medal
• Army Commendation Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)
• Army Achievement Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)
• Expert Infantryman Badge
• Master Parachutist Badge
• Parachutist Badge
• Ranger Tab
• Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge
• Army Staff Identification Badge

External links

• New Job in Iraq Will Be as Top U.S. Military Leader
• SourceWatch profile of General Casey
• CNN, Friday, January 5: Gates shakes up command in Iraq
• Press Briefing by Tony Snow (05 Jan 2007) concerning change of commanders in Iraq
• Casey tells Congress Army is stretched too thin

Chiefs of Staff of the United States Army
Young • Chaffee • Bates • Bell • Wood • Wotherspoon • Scott • Bliss • March • Pershing • Hines • Summerall • MacArthur • Craig • Marshall • Eisenhower • Bradley • Collins • Ridgway • Taylor • Lemnitzer • Decker • Wheeler • Johnson • Westmoreland • Palmer • Abrams • Weyand • Rogers • Meyer • Wickham • Vuono • Sullivan • Reimer • Shinseki • Schoomaker • Casey

United States Joint Chiefs of Staff
Mullen (Chairman) • Cartwright (Vice-Chairman) • Casey (Army) • Roughead (Navy) • Conway (Marine Corps) • Moseley (Air Force) Gainey (Senior Enlisted Advisor)

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