Once upon a time, the way the United States worked was that the CIA spied and gathered intelligence and the military fought wars. This division of responsibilities now appears to be old-fashioned, as demonstrated by President Barack Obama’s reshuffling of his national security team, which put CIA director Leon Panetta in charge of the Department of Defense and sent U.S. Army General David Howell Petraeus to become the next director of the CIA.

 

Born on November 7, 1952, in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, Petraeus and his sister, Carol Jean, grew up with their mother Miriam Howell, a librarian, and father Sixtus Petraeus, a sea captain from the Netherlands who immigrated to the United States after World War II.

 

Petraeus graduated from Cornwall Central High School in 1970 and attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He played on the intercollegiate soccer and ski teams, was a cadet captain on the brigade staff, and was recognized as a “distinguished cadet” by graduating in the top 5% of the Class of 1974 (ranked 43rd overall).

 

Two months after graduation, Petraeus married Holly Knowlton, a graduate of Dickinson College and daughter of Army General William Knowlton, who was superintendent of West Point at the time.

 

Petraeus was commissioned an Army infantry officer after finishing West Point. He then completed Ranger School and was assigned to the 509th Airborne Battalion Combat Team, a light infantry unit in Vicenza, Italy. After that, Petraeus served as assistant operations officer on the staff of the 2nd Brigade, 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at Fort Stewart, Georgia. In 1979, he was given command of a company in the same division: ALPHA Company, 2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment (Mechanized), and then served as that battalion’s operations officer, which meant a promotion to major.

 

Petraeus became aide-de-camp to the commanding general of the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) in 1981. He spent the next two years in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, attending the Command and General Staff College. He graduated in 1983.

 

From 1983 to1985 Petraeus attended Princeton University, earning his Master of Public Administration degree. The years 1985 through 1987 were spent back at West Point, where he earned his PhD in international relations and taught courses. His doctoral dissertation was entitled, “The American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam: A Study of Military Influence and the Use of Force in the Post-Vietnam Era.” 

 

His next assignment was as military assistant to General John Galvin, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. From there, he moved to the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) and then to a post as aide and assistant executive officer to the Army’s chief of staff, General Carl Vuono, in Washington, DC.

 

With his promotion to lieutenant colonel, Petraeus moved to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he commanded the 101st Airborne Division’s 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment (1991–1993). As battalion commander of the Iron Rakkasans, he was seriously wounded during a live-fire exercise after a soldier accidentally discharged his M-16 assault rifle and hit Petraeus in the chest. He was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, where he was operated on by future U.S. Senator Bill Frist.

 

After returning to duty, Petraeus became the 101st division’s assistant chief of staff, G-3, and installation director of plans, training, and mobilization.

 

In 1994-1995, he completed a military fellowship at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, before being assigned to the United Nations Mission in Haiti Military Staff as its chief operations officer during Operation Uphold Democracy.

 

After that, he commanded the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division (1995-1997) and served in the Pentagon as executive assistant to the director of the Joint Staff and then to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Henry Shelton (1997-1999).

 

After being promoted to brigadier general, Petraeus became assistant division commander for operations for the 82nd Airborne, and briefly served as acting commanding general. During his time, he deployed with the division to Kuwait as part of Operation Desert Spring.

 

From the 82nd he moved on to serve as chief of staff of the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, during 2000–2001. In 2000, Petraeus suffered his second major injury when his parachute collapsed at low altitude during a skydiving jump, resulting in a hard landing that broke his pelvis.

 

During 2001–2002, Petraeus served a 10-month tour in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of Operation Joint Forge. In Bosnia, he was the NATO Stabilization Force’s assistant chief of staff for operations as well as the deputy commander of the U.S. Joint Interagency Counter-Terrorism Task Force, a command created after the September 11 attacks to add counterterrorism capability to the U.S. forces attached to the NATO command in Bosnia.

 

During the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Petraeus saw combat for the first time while commanding the 101st Airborne Division. He led his division through fierce fighting south of Baghdad, in Karbala, Hilla and Najaf. As the fighting subsided, the general directed his men to support nation-building projects in an effort to win over the Iraqi people.

 

In 2004, Petraeus became the first commander of the Multi-National Security Transition Command Iraq, which was responsible for training, equipping and mentoring Iraq’s new army, police and other security forces, as well as developing security infrastructure, such as training bases, police stations and border forts.

 

From late 2005 through February 2007, Petraeus was back in the U.S. serving as commanding general of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center. He then returned to Iraq later in 2007 to take command of all U.S. forces in the country.

 

The following year, Petraeus earned an even larger duty by being appointed the head of the United States Central Command, headquartered in Tampa, Florida. This put Petraeus in charge of U.S. military operations in 20 countries, from Egypt to Pakistan, including the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

When General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, got into trouble over publicly disparaging the Obama administration in 2010, the president turned to Petraeus to take over the war effort after removing McChrystal from his post.

 

Petraeus remained in charge of U.S. forces in Afghanistan until receiving his nomination to become director of the CIA. He will retire from the Army before heading the spy agency.

 

Petraeus and his wife, Holly, have two children, Anne and Stephen.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Official Biography (Department of Defense)

Profile (Wikipedia)

Petraeus vs. The Numbers: Who to Believe about IED Attacks? (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Military Leaders Want to Stay in Afghanistan…10 Years Not Enough (by David Wallechinsky, AllGov)

Surprise! As Afghan War Loses Support, U.S. “Discovers” Huge Mineral Deposits (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)