Retired Gen. Raymond Odierno, who once served as the Army chief of staff and commanded U.S. forces in Iraq, died on Friday, according to the Association of the United States Army.
The general was 67 years old and died of cancer, according to a statement from his family.
Odierno, during his nearly four-decade military career, spent more than four years in Iraq over three tours. He helped lead the effort to capture former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. He also served as the top U.S. commander in the country until the war wound down in 2011.
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“Ray’s legacy is like Ray himself — it simply won’t fit into the space behind a podium,” former Defense Secretary Ash Carter said during a 2015 change-of-command ceremony for Odierno. “But let me characterize it this way: Ray Odierno’s story is our Army’s story. He’s a consummate leader and more, the very symbol of the U.S. Army — big, strong, capable, always willing.”
The general was the operational commander of troops in Iraq in 2007, at the time when then-President George W. Bush announced a surge of more than 20,000 troops to secure Baghdad amid the violence.
“We’re doing this so we’re able to give them [the Iraqis] the time necessary to mature as a government, to mature their security forces so we can move forward and allow them to take control of their own destiny as they all so much want to do, and we can then return home one day to our families,” Odierno told the troops in a video message at the time.
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Odierno was the top Army officer in 2014, when the Islamic State overran northern Iraq.
He is survived by his wife and three children, one of whom is a combat veteran.
