THE TOP SOLDIER OF HIS GENERATION: PETRAEUS' STARRY CAREER

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2230947

THE TOP SOLDIER OF HIS GENERATION: PETRAEUS' STARRY CAREER

Hero: David Petraeus has an unparalleled reputation among soldiers of his generation

David Howell Petraeus is a retired U.S. Army four-star general and the most celebrated American soldier of his time.

Known as a scholar and a warrior, the West Point graduate is admired as much for his intellect as his tactical ability and charisma on the battlefield.

He oversaw the crafting of the successful 2006 U.S. counterinsurgency measures in Iraq and accepted without hesitation Obama's request to leave Central Command in 2010 and lend his expertise to the failing international effort in Afghanistan.

Spending 37 years in the military, Petraeus retired from service and took up his post as director of the CIA on September 6, 2011.

Born in Cornwall-on-Hudson in New York in 1952, Petraeus is the son of small town librarian Miriam and Sixtus, a sea captain who had emigrated from the Netherlands.

Immediately upon his graduation from high school in 1970 he enrolled as a cadet at West Point Military Academy where he served with distinction - graduating in the top five of his class in 1974.

Just after his graduation he married Holly Knowlton, daughter of West Point superintendent General William A. Knowlton.

Leaving West Point, Petraeus embarked on his military career and was commissioned as a second lieutenant with the Army Rangers.

Command: Petraeus took over as head of coalition troops in Afghanistan in 2010

He served in a light infantry airborne battalion combat team in Italy and by 1978 he had attained the rank of captain.

His rise though the ranks was rapid. By 2000 he was a brigadier general, and in January 2007 he became a four-star general.

Continuing his education at the same time as his active service, Petraeus was recognised for his intellect and won the General George C. Marshall Award as the top graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1983.

This allowed him to study at the university of his choice and he enrolled at the School of International Affairs at Princeton University - earning a Master's degree in 1985 and a PhD in 1987.

Beginning his command career in Haiti in 1995 as NATO's chief operations officer, Petraeus served in Kuwait and Bosnia.

Spouses: David and Holly Petraeus have been married for over 37 years

In 2007 he commanded the Bush administration's successful deployment to Iraq of 20,000 new troops to combat rising insurgents.

His counterinsurgency strategy has become known as the 'Petraeus Doctrine'.

By 2008, Petraeus was the United States' top soldier and took the reins of the U.S. based Central Command, as USCENTCOM, in October of that year.

However, following Afghanistan commander Stanley McChrystal's negative comments regarding the Obama administration in 2010, Petraeus was asked to take control of the international force there.

He continued to serve in this capacity until he left the military on August 31, 2011 - where at his retirement, Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff compared him to legendary Civil War general and U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant.