Dunford becomes America’s top military officer as Dempsey retires
Source: Washington Post
Army Gen. Martin Dempsey stepped down as the United States’ top uniformed official on Friday, making way for Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, who commanded U.S. troops in Afghanistan and will now take on a daunting set of military challenges including Russia’s buildup in Syria, China’s saber-rattling in the South China Sea, and a stalemated campaign in Iraq.
President Obama and Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter joined Dempsey and Dunford at the handover ceremony, accompanied by a gun salute, drum corps, and other military pomp, at a base near the Pentagon.
Obama praised Dempsey, retiring after a long Army career, for providing a “steady hand” in leading a military in transition after the large-scale deployments that followed the Sept. 11, 2011, attacks.
Obama named Dempsey, a former English professor who spent years tending to military problems in the Middle East, at a time when the White House was laying plans to end much of the United States’ on-the-ground involvement in that region. Those expectations were upended by the tumult caused by the Arab Spring, and more recently by the rise of the Islamic State, which has drawn the United States into an expanding campaign in Iraq and Syria.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/09/25/dunford-becomes-americas-top-military-officer-as-dempsey-retires/