Gen Ray Odierno, the current United States military commander in Iraq stated during the month of September 2008 that present defense gains are reversible as well as brittle. He gave such speech when he was attending an event which took place due to his selection as the new military officer after Gen David Petraeus. Gen Petraeus left the control of as many as 146,000 brave US soldiers and summoned Odierno as the man most suited for the job.
He is at present the Commanding General of the Multi-National Force Iraq briefly known as MNF-I. Prior to this duty, he rendered his services as the Commanding General of United States III Corps. He even acted as the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff between the periods stretching from 3rd November 2004 to 1st May 2006. Ray Odierno got raised in Rockaway situated in New Jersey. He joined the Morris Hills High School and later he went to United States Military Academy located at West Point.
In the month of June 1976, he obtained his graduation degree as the Bachelor of Science. From Naval War College, he completed his Masters in National Security and Strategy and also obtained the degree of Masters in Nuclear Effects Engineering from North Carolina State University. Ray Odierno is credited for controlling the U.S. 4th Infantry Division during the period between October 2001 to June 2004 and it was in course of this period that he organized the division for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
During the month of December 2003, Saddam Hussein was taken into custody by Ray Odierno’s division. He was initially placed in the U.S. Seventh Army and United States Army Europe, Germany and there he rendered his services as the Survey Officer and Pershing Missile Platoon leader of the US 41st Field Artillery Brigade, 1st Battalion and 56th Field Artillery Brigade.
He was appointed in the XVIII Airborne Corps Artillery located at Fort Bragg after his accomplishment of the Artillery Officer Advance Course. Ray Odierno has also won a number of awards for his services such as Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Bronze Star and others.
Ray Odierno
