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Raymond Odierno, a US general who commanded US and coalition forces in Iraq at the height of the war and capped a 39-year career serving as the army chief of staff, has died, announced Saturday his family. He was 67 years old.
“The general died after a courageous battle with cancer; his death was unrelated to Covid, ”a statement read. “Her family is grateful for the concern and asks for privacy.”
Odierno died on Friday. The family refused to say where. He said information on the funeral and burial was not yet available.
A native of Rockaway, New Jersey, Odierno graduated from the US Military Academy in West Point, New York in 1976, with a commission in field artillery.
He has held a wide range of roles, with tours abroad including Iraq, Germany, Albania and Kuwait. As a three-star general, he was assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a position that made him the chief military adviser to the secretary of state.
Odierno flew three missions to Iraq, capped at two years, from 2008 to 2010, as the United States’ commander-in-chief in Baghdad. He was replaced in this post by General Lloyd Austin, now Secretary of Defense. Odierno was commander of the Multi-National Corps-Iraq from 2006 to 2008.
When Odierno retired in 2015, he was replaced as the Army Chief of Staff by General Mark Milley, the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
In a ceremony marking Odierno’s retirement, then Defense Secretary Ashton Carter described him as a commander whose tenacity and operational acumen gave civilian leaders great confidence.
“His towering presence calmed the confused, and his courage and compassion helped carry the burden of loss and sacrifice,” Carter said.
Soldiers from the 4th Odierno Infantry Division were implicated in the capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003. This gave hope of crushing an emerging insurgency, but in 2004 the insurgency gathered strength. magnitude.
Reporting Odierno’s death, the Washington Post said Odierno was “a towering figure, 6 feet 5 inches, 250 pounds, with a shaved head. [who] had an affable nature and developed a close relationship with his troops. He was considered one of the most capable battle leaders in the army.
He was, according to the newspaper, “a key architect of the” rise “of American forces. [later in] the war in Iraq which has been credited with reducing violence and increasing stability in the country ”.
The Post also quoted journalist and military historian Thomas Ricks, who, in his 2006 story on the early invasion and occupation of Iraq, Fiasco, wrote: “The Odierno brigades and battalions have acquired the reputation for being too aggressive.
“Time and again, internal army reports and commanders in interviews have stated [the 4th Infantry Division] used closed-fist approaches that may have seemed to pacify his region in the short term, but in the process alienated a large part of the population.
Three months ago, North Carolina State University announced that Odierno had joined its board of trustees. During his military career, he obtained a Master of Science in Nuclear Effects Engineering from the State of North Carolina. He was president of Odierno Associates, a consulting firm in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
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