George W. Casey, Jr.

Infobox Military Person
name= George William Casey, Jr.
born= birth date and age|1948|7|22
died=
placeofbirth=Sendai, Japan
placeofdeath=
placeofburial=


caption= General George William Casey Jr. 36^th Chief of Staff of the United States Army
nickname=
allegiance=flag|United States of America
branch=United States Army
serviceyears= 1970 - present
rank= General
commands=Army Chief of Staff Multinational Force Iraq 1st Armored Division Joint Warfighting Center/Director 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division
unit=
battles=Operation Iraqi Freedom Operation Joint Endeavor (Bosnia)
awards= Defense Distinguished Service Medal (2) Army Distinguished Service Medal (2) Legion of Merit (3) Defense Meritorious Service Medal
laterwork=
General George William Casey, Jr., USA (born July 21, 1948) is the 36^th and current Chief of Staff of the United States Army. General Casey previously served as Commanding General, Multi-National Force - Iraq from June 2004 to February 8, 2007. He assumed his current assignment on April 10, 2007.

Early life; education

George Casey was born on July 21, 1948 in Sendai during the Allied occupation of Japan. His father, George William Casey, was a West Point graduate who rose to the rank of Major General and served in two wars (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.

Casey grew up south of Boston, Massachusetts 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 Arts from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.

Military career

Casey was commissioned through the Army ROTC in 1970 following graduation from Georgetown.

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 served as the senior coalition commander in Iraq from June 2004 to February 2007. He replaced Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez.cite news |accessdate=2008-10-05
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9903E7DE163BF936A35754C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
title=The Reach of War: Man in the News — George William Casey Jr.; A Low-Key Commander With 4 Stars to Tame the Iraqi Furies
author=Schmitt, Eric |work=New York Times |date=July 5, 2004] 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 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.cite news|accessdate=
url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/08/14/wirq14.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/08/14/ixworld.html
title=Bush slaps down top general after he calls for troops to be pulled out of Iraq
author=Sherwell, Philip |date=August 14, 2005
work=The Telegraph
archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20051113130646/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/08/14/wirq14.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/08/14/ixworld.html
archivedate=2005-11-13]

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."cite news|accessdate=
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/washington/02war.html
title=haos Overran Iraq Plan in ’06, Bush Team Says
author=Sanger, David E.; Gordon, Michael R.; and John F. Burns
date=January 2, 2007|work=New York Times]

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.

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.

In September 2007, in testimony before the U.S. Congress, Casey said "the current demand for our forces exceeds the sustainable supply. We are consumed with meeting the demands of the current fight and are unable to provide ready forces as rapidly as necessary for other potential contingencies" — underscoring in a public hearing the strain that the continuing Iraq War is placing on the U.S. military.cite news|accessdate=2008-09-10
url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/09/27/army_is_worn_too_thin_says_general/
title=Army is worn too thin, says general; Calls force not ready to meet new threats
author=Bender, Bryan | date=September 27, 2007 |work=The Boston Globe]

Major awards, decorations and badges

*Expert Infantryman Badge
*Master Parachutist Badge
*Ranger Tab
*Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge
*Army Staff Identification Badge
*Army Superior Unit Award
*German Parachutist Badge in bronze

Image gallery

Notes

References

*cite web|accessdate=2008-10-05
url=http://www.army.mil/institution/leaders/csa/index.html
title=Biography: General George W. Casey, Jr. — Chief of Staff of the United States Army
work=Leaders: Army Chief of Staff
format=PDF
publisher=United States Army

External links

* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4087-2004Jun24.html New Job in Iraq Will Be as Top U.S. Military Leader]
* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_W._Casey%2C_Jr. "SourceWatch" profile of General Casey]
* [http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/01/05/friday/index.html CNN, Friday, January 5: Gates shakes up command in Iraq]
* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070105-7.html Press Briefing by Tony Snow (05 Jan 2007) concerning change of commanders in Iraq]
* [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/09/27/army_is_worn_too_thin_says_general/ Casey tells Congress Army is stretched too thin]