The Association of Special Operations Professionals 2011 Award Recipients
ASOP Man of the Year 2011 Award Recipient
General(R) David H. Petraeus
General David H. Petraeus relinquished command of the NATO International Security Assistance Force on 18 July 2011, after having served in that position since 4 July 2010. Prior to commanding ISAF and US Forces in Afghanistan, he was the Commander of U.S. Central Command, where he had served since October 2008. Before his command of CENTCOM, he served for over 19 months as the Commanding General of the Multi-National Force-Iraq, overseeing the execution of the Surge. Prior to his tour as MNF-I Commander, he commanded the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth, during which time he oversaw the development of the Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual and corresponding changes to Army training and leader development. Before that assignment, he served for over 15 months as the first Commander of both the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq and the NATO Training Mission-Iraq, directing the "Train and Equip" mission. That deployment to Iraq followed his command of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), during which he led the "Screaming Eagles" during the fight to Baghdad and throughout the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom. His command of the 101st followed a year deployed on Operation Joint Forge in Bosnia, where he was the Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations of the NATO Stabilization Force and the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Joint Counter-Terrorism Task Force-Bosnia. Prior to his tour in Bosnia, he spent two years at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, serving first as the Assistant Division Commander for Operations of the 82nd Airborne Division and then as the Chief of Staff of XVIII Airborne Corps.
General Petraeus was commissioned in the Infantry upon graduation as a "distinguished cadet" from the United States Military Academy in 1974. In addition to his commands as a general officer, he held leadership positions in airborne, mechanized, and air assault infantry units in Europe, the United States, and the Middle East, including command of a company in the 24th Infantry Division, a battalion in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and a brigade in the 82nd Airborne Division. He also held a number of staff assignments: Aide to the Chief of Staff of the Army; battalion, brigade, and a division operations officer; Military Assistant to the Supreme Allied Commander-Europe; Chief of Operations of the United Nations Force in Haiti; and Executive Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
General Petraeus was the General George C. Marshall Award winner as the top graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Class of 1983. He subsequently earned MPA and Ph.D. degrees in international reltations from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and he later served as an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the U.S. Military Academy. He also completed a fellowship at Georgetown University.
Awards and decorations earned by General Petraeus include four awards of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, two awards of the Distinguished Service Medal, the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, the State Department Distinguished Service Award, two awards of the NATO Meritorious Service Medal, the Gold Award of the Iraqi Order of the Date Palm, the French Legion d'Honneur, the Polish Order of Merit, the Order of Australia, the National Defense Cross of the Czech Republic, the Italian Gold Cross of Merit of the Carabinieri, the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross, the Korean Order of National Security Merit (Tong-il)Medal, and the UAE Military Merit Order First Class. He is a Master Parachutist and Air Assault and Ranger qualified. He has also earned the Combat Action Badge and French, British, and German Jump Wings. He was recently awarded the George Kennan Award by the National Committee on American Foreign Policym the 2010 James Madison Medal by Princeton University , and the 2010 Intrepid Freedom Award by the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum.
General Petraeus is married to the former Holly Knowlton, a graduate of Dickinson College and the daughter of Army General William A. Knowlton, who was the superintendent of West Point when they met. They have a daughter and a son, Anne and Stephen.
COL Aaron Bank 2011 Award Recipient
LTG John F. Mulholland Jr.
Lieutenant General John F. Mulholland Jr. assumed command of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command November 7, 2008. Prior to this assignment he was commanding general of Special Operations Command Central.
General Mulholland graduated from Furman University in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in history and was commissioned there as a second lieutenant in the infantry. His first assignment was in Fort Clayton, Panama, from 1979 to 1980, where he served as a rifle platoon leader in Company C, 4th Battalion (Mechanized), 20th Infantry, 193rd Infantry Brigade. From 1980 to 1982, he was rifle platoon leader and weapons platoon leader in Company A (Airborne), 3rd Battalion, 5th Infantry in Fort Kobbe, Panama. In 1983, he completed the Infantry Officer Advanced Course and then graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course. He then was assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group (A) at Fort Bragg, where he served as Operational Detachment-A commander and a company commander from 1984 to 1986. Mulholland returned to Panama from 1987 to 1989, where he was appointed current operations officer and later exercises and ground operations officer in J-3 (Operations), Special Operations Command South, U.S. Southern Command.
General Mulholland attended the Defense Language Institute and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College from January 1990 to June 1991. From June 1991 to 1993, Mulholland served with 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (A) at Fort Bragg as operations officer and later as an executive officer.
Following his tour with the 7th SFG (A), he served as an assistant operations officer, deputy operations officer, and operations officer with the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (A) until June 1996.
General Mulholland commanded 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (A), U.S. Army Pacific Command in Torii Station, Japan, until June 1998. He then assumed a battalion-level command within the U.S. Army Office of Military Support in Washington, D.C., until August 2000 when he attended the National War College in Washington, D.C. He assumed command of 5th SFG (A) at Fort Campbell, Ky., in July 2001, and in October that year became commander of Task Force Dagger, Joint Special Operations Task Force North during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He later served as commander of Coalition-Joint Task Force West and then Coalition-Joint Task Force-Arabian Peninsula during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In August 2003, he was assigned as chief of the Office of Military Cooperation in Kuwait. From August 2005 through July 2006, Mulholland served as commanding general, U.S. Army Special Forces Command (A). From August 2006 until June 2007, he served as deputy commanding general, Joint Special Operations Command. He assumed command of Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT) on June 22, 2007.
General Mulholland's military awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Valorous Unit Award, Special Forces and Ranger tabs, Combat Infantryman and Expert Infantryman Badges, Pathfinder Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, and Military Freefall Parachutist Badge.