Shalikashvili, General John M. -- presidential advisorBorn in Warsaw, Poland on June 27, 1936. General John M. Shalikashvili graduated from Bradley University with a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He also holds a Master's Degree in International Affairs from George Washington University. His military education includes completion of the Naval Command and Staff College and the United States Army War College.
Upon graduation from Officer Candidate School in 1959, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Artillery. For the next 16 years, he served in a variety of command and staff positions in Alaska, the continental United States, Germany, Vietnam, and Korea. In 1975 he assumed command of the 1st Battalion, 84th Field Artillery at Fort Lewis. Following his graduation from the Army War College, he was assigned to Vicenza, Italy, as the Assistant Chief of Staff, G3, of the Southern European Task Force. After leaving Italy in 1979, he assumed command of Division Artillery, 1st Armored Division in Germany. Returning from Germany in 1981, he was assigned Chief of the Politico-Military Division. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, Department of the Army. He was subsequently selected for promotion to Brigadier General and assumed his duties as Deputy Director. Strategy, Plans and Policy. In 1984 General Shalikashvili returned to Germany and the 1st Armored Division as an Assistant Division Commander. After his promotion to Major General, he returned to the Army Staff as Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans (Joint Affairs) and Director of Strategy, Plans and Policy in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans. From June 1987 to August 1989, he served as Commander of the 9th Infantry Division (Motorized), in Fort Lewis, Washington.
Selected for promotion to Lieutenant General in August 1989, he returned to Germany and assumed duties as Deputy Commander in Chief, United States Army. In April of 1991. General Shalikashvili took command of Operation PROVIDE COMFORT, for the relief operation that returned hundreds of thousands of Kurdish refugees to Northern Iraq. In 1991. he returned to Washington, DC and became the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
General Shalikashvili next served as Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR) and Commander-in Chief, United States European Command from June 1992 until October 1993 when he returned to Washington to assume the duties of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of Defense. In this capacity he serves as the principal military advisor to the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council.
From: Wally West