He was inaugurated into office by the Senate by 81-0 vote on January 26, 2007. He replaced General George Casey who has been nominated by President George W. Bush to be Chief of Staff United States Army. In this new position, Petraeus will bring all the troops in Iraq and carry out the design of a new Iraq strategy proposed by the Bush administration.
Childhood
David Petraeus was born in 1952 in a Dutch-American family. His father, Sixtus, was a captain of sailors. Petraeus grew up in Cornwall on Hudson, New York. As a child he was nicknamed "Peaches" ("Peaches") in the 1960's, because his friends at the Little League mistakenly pronounce the name of his family. He graduated from Cornwall Central High School and then went to the United States Military Academy at West Point, not far from his hometown.
He married Holly Knowlton (son retired Army Gen. William A. Knowlton, who became superintendent of West Point at that time) two months after graduating from the military education. They have two grown children: a son and a daughter.
Education
Petraeus served as an infantry officer after graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1974. Petraeus he gets the award, General George C. Marshall as the best graduate of the School of Staff U.S. Army Forces Command 1983. He later earned a MPA (Master of Public Administration) (Master's Degree in Public Administration) and Ph.D. in international relations from the School of International Affairs and the State of Woodrow Wilson, Princeton University, and later served as an assistant professor in the subject of International Relations at the U.S. Military Academy. His Ph.D. dissertation, "The American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam" (American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam), discusses the influence of the Vietnam War on military thinking regarding the use of military force. He also completed a fellowship program at Georgetown University.
In the military
Prior to his assignment in Iraq, Petraeus is the Assistant Chief of Staff Operations NATO Stabilization Force and deputy commander of Task Force Counter-Terrorism of the U.S. Joint Inter-Agency - Bosnia.
After graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1974, he was assigned to the Infantry. He has held positions as leaders in infantry units in air transport, machinery, and air attacks in Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.
At least he was wounded twice in action. In 1991, Petraeus, who was serving as battalion commander of the Iron Rakkasans, 3-to-187 Infatri Regiment, accidentally shot in the chest by an M-16 in a practice with live rounds in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, when a soldier stepped on a rifle and exploded. Petraeus was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, where he was operated by Bill Frist who later became a Senator.
In 2000, in a parachute jump, jump Petraeus closes the umbrella at a height which is not much (about 60 feet or 20 meters), which resulted in he landed hard and broke bones crotch.
Assignment in Iraq
Petraeus led the Air Transport Division to-101 on invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the occupation of the unity that the Mosul until mid-2004. Petraeus widely praised for its effectiveness in managing Mosul, where public order immediately collapsed in 2004, shortly after leaving Division-101.
Shortly after being appointed as a field commander in Iraq, Petraeus observed that at the time of his appointment, U.S. forces have historically not prepared to fight the rebels, and that although it has a tremendous power for conventional combat, they do not have experience with imperial Britain, and his experience with the Ulster and Malaya, and intellectually unprepared to face the complexities of guerrilla warfare. He also noted that Britain, with their colonial history has been far more clever in combining local diplomacy with military force.
In June 2004, Petraeus was assigned to train the Iraqi Army and security forces aru country as commander of Multi-National Transition Command - Iraq. He's leaving office in September 2005. Petraeus then given the task to lead the Combined Arms Center USA (CAC).
U.S. Combined Arms Center headquartered at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is the command that oversees the Command and Staff College 17 schools, centers, and other educational programs are located throughout the United States. Combined Arms Center is also responsible for the preparation of Army doctrinal manuals, training of officers assigned or not assigned, oversee joint exercises are important, battle command system and integrates the concept, as well as overseeing the military center for the collection and dissemination of lessons learned .
Critics 2007
Col. Douglas A. Macgregor (Ret.), from the U.S. Army, listed a number of criticisms of General Petraeus in the issue of the PBS (Public Television Stations) January 23, 2007, News Hour with Jim Lehrer. He stated that Jen. Petraeus start a new position (as the U.S. military commander in Iraq) with three errors.
Quote: "First, he led the Air Transport Division to-101 on the way to Baghdad. This is a command that does not stand out. Assistant division commander at the end of the operation was so disappointed by the failure of Division-101 to support its success, so he said that the Corps to -5 proverbial fight with one hand tied behind his back. 3rd Infantry Division has been carrying out this battle.
