Raymond Thomas Odierno (8 September 1954 – 8 October 2021) was an American military officer who served as a

four-star general Military star ranking is military terminology, used in mainly English speaking countries, to describe general and flag officers. Within NATO's armed forces, the stars are equal to OF-6–10. Star ranking One-star A one-star rank is usually ...

of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and as the 38th chief of staff of the Army. Prior to his service as chief of staff, Odierno commanded

United States Joint Forces Command The United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) was a Unified Combatant Command of the United States Department of Defense. USJFCOM was a functional command that provided specific services to the military. The last commander was Army Gen. ...

from October 2010 until its disestablishment in August 2011. He served as Commanding General,

United States Forces – Iraq United States Forces – Iraq (USF-I) was an American military sub-unified command, part of U.S. Central Command. It was stationed in Iraq as agreed with the Government of Iraq under the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement. USF–I repla ...

and its predecessor,

Multi-National Force – Iraq The Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF–I), often referred to as the Coalition forces, was a U.S.-led military command during the Iraq War from 2004 to 2009. The vast majority of MNF-I was made up of United States Army forces. However it also ...

, from September 2008 through September 2010.

Early life and education

Raymond Thomas Odierno, of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

descent, was born on 8 September 1954 in

Dover, New Jersey Dover is a town in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located on the Rockaway River, Dover is about west of New York City and about west of Newark, New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 18,4 ...

, the son of Helen and Raymond J. Odierno. He grew up in

Rockaway, New Jersey Rockaway is a borough in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 6,598, an increase of 160 (+2.5%) from the 2010 census count of 6,438, which in turn reflected a decl ...

, and attended

Morris Hills High School Morris Hills High School is a comprehensive high school, comprehensive regional four-year state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school located in the borough of Rockaway, New Jersey, Rockaway, in Morris County, New ...

, graduating in 1972, followed by the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

at West Point, where he graduated in June 1976 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree. He later received a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in nuclear effects engineering from

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in national security and strategy from the

Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associa ...

Career

Odierno was commissioned as an officer upon his graduation from West Point in 1976. Over his career, he was stationed in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, Saudi Arabia,

the Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

, and the US.

Iraq War

Odierno served three

tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

in Iraq between 2003 and 2010. He commanded the 4th Infantry Division during the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, with headquarters at

Tikrit Tikrit ( ) is a city in Iraq, located northwest of Baghdad and southeast of Mosul on the Tigris River. It is the administrative center of the Saladin Governorate. In 2012, it had a population of approximately 160,000. Originally created as a f ...

. According to Thomas E. Ricks, the Division employed aggressive tactics under his leadership; according to a 2008 profile of Odierno in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', the Division followed an "iron-fist strategy" under his command. Odierno replaced Peter W. Chiarelli as commander of

Multi-National Corps – Iraq Multi-National Corps – Iraq (MNC-I) was a formerly multinational, later U.S. only, army corps created on 15 May 2004, fighting the Iraq War. Its superior body, the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) had replaced Combined Joint Task Force 7 on ...

in 2006. As commander, Odierno promoted the

Iraq War troop surge of 2007 The Iraq War troop surge of 2007, commonly known as the troop surge, or simply the surge, refers to the George W. Bush administration's 2007 increase in the number of U.S. military combat troops in Iraq in order to provide security to Baghdad a ...

as an alternative to the then-prevailing military strategy. His tactics as commander were less "confrontational" than those he had employed as commander of the 4th Infantry Division. Odierno oversaw the surge from December 2006 to March 2008. In September 2008, Odierno took over from

David Petraeus David Howell Petraeus (; born 7 November 1952) is a retired United States Army General (United States), general who served as the fourth director of the Central Intelligence Agency from September 2011 until his resignation in November 2012. Pri ...

as commander of US forces in Iraq. According to then-Secretary of Defense

Robert Gates Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943) is an American intelligence analyst and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was appointed by President George W. Bush and retained b ...

, Odierno's experience as commander during the surge suited him to succeed Petraeus. Later that year, Odierno announced a "subtle shift" in US military operations in Iraq, whereby the United States would seek the approval of Iraq's government before engaging in combat.

Army leadership

On 30 May 2011, Odierno was nominated to be Army Chief of Staff. He was confirmed to take over from General

Martin E. Dempsey Martin “Marty” Edward Dempsey (born 14 March 1952), is an American retired military officer who served as the 18th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 2011 to September 2015. He previously served as the 37th chief of Staff o ...

on 7 September 2011, and sworn in as 38th Army chief of staff later that day. In 2014, Odierno submitted a budget request for 520,000 active-duty soldiers, and said that the bare minimum was 450,000, which would, however, be at a "high risk to meet one major war". As chief of staff, Odierno said in a 2015 interview with ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' that he was "very concerned" about a decline in the United Kingdom's military spending. In August 2015, Odierno retired from the Army after 39 years of service.

Post-military activities

In January 2017, Odierno was named chairman of

USA Football USA Football is the National Governing Body (NGB) of American football in the United States, having received formal certification from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee on April 17, 2025, becoming the 38th Summer Olympics National Govern ...

, a national organization that promotes youth football. He was named chairman and alternate governor of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team initially played it ...

on 12 October 2017. In January 2019, he was selected to serve a three-year term on the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, D ...

selection committee. In July 2021, he was selected as a member of the board of trustees at

Assignments

Source:

Promotions

– Class of 1976

Officer assignments

Awards and honors

General Odierno has received the following awards: Odierno received the

Naval War College Distinguished Graduate Leadership Award The Naval War College Distinguished Graduate leadership Award was established in 1996 by the Trustees of the Naval War College Foundation to honor United States Naval War College graduates who have attained positions of prominence in the field of n ...

in 2009. In 2012, Odierno received the

Ellis Island Medals of Honor The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is an American award founded by the Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) (formerly known as the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO)), which is presented annually to American citizens, both native-born a ...

Personal life

Odierno and his wife had three children and four grandchildren. His son, retired U.S. Army Captain Anthony K. Odierno, is an

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

veteran who lost his left arm to a

rocket-propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), also known colloquially as a rocket launcher, is a Shoulder-fired missile, shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon that launches rockets equipped with a Shaped charge, shaped-charge explosive warhead. Most RPGs can ...

. Odierno died on 8 October 2021, from cancer at the age of 67. In January 2022, funeral services were held privately followed by interment at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...

References

Sources

* *

External links

* * * , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Odierno, Raymond 1954 births 2021 deaths American people of Italian descent College Football Playoff Selection Committee members Florida Panthers executives Military leaders of the Iraq War Military personnel from Morris County, New Jersey Morris Hills High School alumni North Carolina State University alumni People from Dover, New Jersey Chiefs of Staff of the United States Army United States Army personnel of the Iraq War United States Army generals United States Army War College alumni United States Military Academy alumni Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Recipients of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States) Deaths from cancer in North Carolina