Vincent Brooks
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Vincent Keith Brooks (born October 24, 1958) is an American brigadier general, who was the United States Army's Deputy Director of Operations during the War in Iraq. This position again made him visible in the media. Presently he serves as the Chief of Army Public Affairs in the Pentagon.
Brooks is an African-American and was born in Anchorage, Alaska, Brooks grew up in an Army family in California. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia for two years and then Jesuit High School in Sacramento, California and graduated in 1976. He was a basketball player; and he decided to follow his brother to West Point to study to become an officer. He graduated in 1980 was the academy's first African-American cadet First Captain, an appointment that brought much public visibility at an early age in life. Brooks served in Korea and Kosovo among other places. In Kosovo he concurrently served as the deputy commander of the U.S. force in Kosovo (Task Force Falcon) and as commander of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart, Georgia. From that position he moved to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. While serving there he was temporarily assigned to be Deputy Director of Operations at U.S. Central Command or CENTCOM. Returning to the Pentagon and The Joint Staff in April 2003 he became the Strategic Planner for the War on Terrorism.
In his role as Deputy Director of Operations he also became the spokesperson of United States Central Command, the main force in the Middle East. He has claimed not to have wanted the job of being the spokesperson for the approximately quarter of a million troops stationed in Iraq, but was "forced" into the limelight, much like his former superior, General Tommy Franks (who, some people say, was "allergic" to the limelight). However, his charisma and speaking ability have caused the media to prefer his briefings to those of many other spokespersons.