Former Drum commander picked for Army vice chief

WASHINGTON — A very private past commander of Fort Drum is poised to take a very public position.

Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, who led the 10th Mountain Division and Fort Drum during 2003, 2004 and 2005, has been nominated by President Barack Obama to become the next vice chief of staff of the Army.

The move, if confirmed by the Senate, would move Gen. Austin to the second-highest uniformed position in the Army. He would maintain his four-star status.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta made the announcement last week.

Gen. Austin is now in command of U.S. forces in Iraq. He was previously director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.

As commander at Drum, then-Maj. Gen. Austin shied away from media attention, especially of a personal nature. A profile in the Daily Beast in 2008 called him “a towering physical presence but essentially a quiet and soft-spoken man” who would attract fewer headlines than his predecessor, then-Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno — now Army chief of staff .

Gen. Austin earned a “quotation of the day” notation in the New York Times in 2003, as assistant commander for the 3rd Infantry Division, for saying his soldiers might have to “police up some meatheads” to maintain control in Baghdad.

He is a native of Thomasville, Ga. and a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After serving at Fort Drum, he went on to command the 18th Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, N.C.