General Vincent K. Brooks is a career Army officer who recently retired from active duty as the four-star general in command of all US Forces in Korea, where he concurrently commanded United Nations Command as well as the Republic of Korea—US Combined Forces Command comprising over 650,000 Koreans and Americans under arms. 

 In 2003, while serving in the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, Brooks was chosen to serve as the deputy director of operations and primary spokesperson for the America’s fighting force in the Middle East and Central Asia, the United States Central Command as it conducted combat operations against Iraq. Due to his charisma and speaking ability, the media, and international viewing public preferred Brooks’ daily update briefings to those of other spokespersons. During this time, Brooks was often referred to as “the face of the US military.” Brooks also served as the commander for the US Third Army, the US Army portion of Central Command from 2011 to 2013, critical times in the reduction of forces in Iraq, the increase of forces in Afghanistan, the “Arab Spring,” and the standoff against Iran. Highly experienced in command of increasingly larger and more complex organizations over his forty-two years of service spent mostly in leadership roles, Brooks led in assignments completed with the 82nd Airborne Division, 1st Infantry Division, the 1st Cavalry Division, the 2nd Infantry Division, the 3rd Infantry Division, the Third Corps, the Third Army, and the US Army in the Pacific. In his final assignment, he served both the President of the United States and the President of the Republic of Korea. He also served at the Pentagon with both the Army headquarters as well as with the Joint Staff overseeing all the US military operations around the world.