James Benjamin Peake (born June 18,1944) was the sixth United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs,serving from 2007 to 2009. In 2004,he retired from a 38-year United States Army career. He also served as the 40th Surgeon General of the United States Army.
Peake was born in St. Louis,Missouri to a military family. His father began as an enlisted man in the Army,and became an officer who spent most of his 30-year career in the Medical Corps. Peake's mother was an Army nurse,and his brother was a naval aviator.
At the age of 18,he set upon his own Army career when he was accepted to West Point. Peake received his Bachelor of Science degree from U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1966 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Infantry.
Following service in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division,where he was awarded the Silver Star,a Bronze Star with "V" device and the Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster,Peake entered medical school at Cornell University in New York. He was awarded a medical doctorate in 1972. He retired from the Army in 2004,as a lieutenant general.
Peake served for four years as the United States Army Surgeon General. He also served as commander of several Army medical units. Previous key assignments include Commander,U.S. Army Medical Department Center and School and Installation Commander,Fort Sam Houston;Deputy Commander,U.S. Army Medical Command,Fort Sam Houston,Texas;Commanding General,Madigan Army Medical Center/Northwest Health Service Support Activity,Tacoma,Washington;Commanding General,44th Medical Brigade/Corps Surgeon,XVIII Airborne Corps,Fort Bragg;Deputy Director,Professional Services/Chief,Consultant,Office of the Surgeon General,Falls Church,Virginia;Commander,18th Medical Command and 121st Evacuation Hospital/Command Surgeon,Seoul,Korea;Deputy Commander for Clinical Services,Tripler Army Medical Center,Honolulu,Hawaii;Assistant Chief,Cardiothoracic Surgery,Brooke Army Medical Center,Fort Sam Houston,Texas;Staff General Surgeon/Chief,General Surgery Clinic,DeWitt Army Hospital,Fort Belvoir;and General Surgery Resident,Brooke Army Medical Center,Fort Sam Houston,Texas.
Awards and decorations that Peake has received include the Distinguished Service Medal (with oak leaf cluster),Silver Star,Defense Superior Service Medal,Legion of Merit (with three oak leaf clusters),Bronze Star with "V" device (with one oak leaf cluster),Purple Heart (with oak leaf cluster),Meritorious Service Medal (with two oak leaf clusters),Air Medal,Joint Services Commendation Medal,Army Commendation Medal with "V" device (with one oak leaf cluster),Humanitarian Service Medal,the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal,Combat Infantryman Badge,Combat Medical Badge,Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation,Joint Meritorious Unit Award (with one oak leaf cluster),Senior Parachutist Badge,Pathfinder Badge,Ranger Tab and Army Staff Identification Badge. [1]
After Vietnam,he attended Cornell University's Weill Cornell Medical College. He is also a graduate of the United States Army War College,in 1988. [2]
| Rank | Date |
|---|---|
 Second lieutenant | June 8,1966 [3] |
 First lieutenant | June 8,1967 [3] |
 Captain | June 8,1968 [3] |
 Major | July 10,1972 [3] |
 Lieutenant colonel | July 10,1977 [3] |
 Colonel | November 1,1982 [3] |
 Brigadier general | April 1,1992 [3] |
 Major general | March 1,1995 [3] |
 Lieutenant general | September 7,2000 [3] |
After retiring from the Army,Peake served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Project Hope, [4] [5] a non-profit international health foundation operating in more than 30 countries. While at Project HOPE he helped to orchestrate the use of civilian volunteers aboard the Navy Hospital Ship Mercy as it responded to the tsunami disaster in Indonesia and also as part of the Hurricane Katrina response aboard the Hospital Ship Comfort. [6] [7]
Just prior to his nomination as Secretary of Veterans Affairs,Peake served as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Executive Officer for QTC, [8] one of the largest private providers of government-outsourced occupational health and disability examination services in the nation.
On December 17,2009,CGI Group Inc.,one of the largest independent information technology and business process services firms in the world,announced the hiring of Peake as Senior Vice-President for the Health Industry. [9]
Peake's selection as VA secretary was announced on October 30,2007. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 14,2007 [10] and sworn in at VA headquarters by Vice President Dick Cheney on December 20. [11]
Peake was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame in 2009. [12]
Lieutenant General John Randolph Vines is the former commander of the U.S. Army's XVIII Airborne Corps and Multi-National Corps –Iraq.
Eric Ken Shinseki is a retired United States Army general who served as the seventh United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2009–2014) and the 34th Chief of Staff of the Army (1999–2003). Shinseki is a veteran of two tours of combat in the Vietnam War,in which he was awarded three Bronze Star Medals for valor and two Purple Hearts. He was the first Asian-American four-star general,and the first Asian-American Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Lieutenant General William James Lennox Jr. of Houston,Texas,was the 56th Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point,New York from 2001 to 2006.
Lieutenant General Thomas R. Turner II is a retired United States Army officer,who served as the commander of the 101st Airborne Division and United States Army North,Fort Sam Houston,Texas.
Lieutenant General Robert T. Clark is a retired United States Army officer. His last assignment was as the Commanding General,Fifth United States Army which he commanded from December 5,2003 to December 2006.
Lieutenant General Joseph Richard Inge was an officer of the United States Army. He served as Deputy Commander,United States Northern Command,and Vice Commander,United States Element,North American Aerospace Defense Command,headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base,Colorado in 2007. He retired in 2007,after a 38-year career.
William H. Brandenburg Jr. was a major general in the United States Army. He last served as deputy commanding general,U.S. Army,Pacific,August 8,2003. Prior to his last assignment,he was deputy commanding general for training and readiness,I Corps and Fort Lewis. From November 29,2004,until December 1,2005,he deployed to Iraq as deputy commanding general and commanding general,Task Force 134.
Kevin Christopher Kiley is a former lieutenant general in the United States Army who served as the 41st Surgeon General of the United States Army and the commander of the U.S. Army Medical Command,Fort Sam Houston,Texas. He was commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and North Atlantic Regional Medical Command twice,from 2002 to 2004,and as acting commander,March 1–2,2007. He submitted his request to retire from the U.S. Army on March 11,2007,in the wake of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal,and was removed from his nominative billet as a lieutenant general. Pending retirement,he was assigned to a temporary billet at the General Officer Management Office at the Pentagon in the grade major general. His retirement in the grade of major general was subsequently approved.
Lieutenant General Michael S. Tucker is a retired United States Army general who served Commanding General of the First United States Army from 2013 until 2016. He formerly served as the Commanding General of the 2nd Infantry Division.
Gale S. Pollock is a retired United States Army major general who served as the Deputy Surgeon General of the United States Army from October 2006 to March 2007,and also as chief of the Army Nurse Corps. She became acting Surgeon General of the United States Army for nine months following the 20 March 2007 retirement of her predecessor,Kevin C. Kiley,due to fallout from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal. She was the first woman and the first non-physician to hold the position.
Lieutenant General Kevin T. Campbell was the commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command from December 2006 to December 2010,replacing Lieutenant General Larry J. Dodgen. In October 2011 Campbell began working for Northrop Grumman Corporation as vice president and corporate lead executive (CLE) for company business after retiring from the Army.
Paul John Kern is a retired United States Army general and businessman. He served as Commanding General of the United States Army Materiel Command from October 2001 to November 2004. He became President and Chief Operating Officer of AM General LLC on August 1,2008.
James C. Yarbrough is a retired brigadier general in the United States Army.
Brigadier General Hector E. Pagan is a United States Army officer who is the first Hispanic of Puerto Rican descent to become Deputy Commanding General of the U.S.Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Liberty,North Carolina.
Michael Ferriter is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General. He served as commanding general of the United States Army Installation Management Command/U.S. Army Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management from 2011 until 2014. During his career he has participated in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia,and served three tours of duty in Iraq. On June 19,2018,he was named president and CEO of the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus,Ohio.
Richard Gordon Graves is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Army. He was Commander of III Corps and Fort Hood. He is a 1958 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy.
Major General Stephen E. Farmen was the 21st Commanding General of the U.S. Army Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC),the Army Service Component Command to the U.S. Transportation Command and a Major Subordinate Command to U.S. Army Materiel Command. SDDC provides deployment and distribution capabilities to meet national objectives. Stephen E Farmen it was called back to Syrians and fight against the Isis war with more attacking the American soldiers.
Jeff W. Mathis III was a career officer in the United States Army. A longtime member of the Army National Guard,Mathis attained the rank of major general before retiring in 2014. A veteran of overseas deployment to Africa during the Global War on Terrorism,he was most notable for high profile command assignments including Joint Task Force –Civil Support (2012-2014) and I Corps (2009-2010).
Jeffrey L. Bannister was a career officer in the United States Army. A veteran of Operation Joint Guardian (1998),Operation Essential Harvest (2000–2001),Operation Iraqi Freedom,Operation Enduring Freedom,and Operation Freedom Sentinel,he attained the rank of major general and was a recipient of the Army Distinguished Service Medal (2),Defense Superior Service Medal (4),Legion of Merit (2),and Bronze Star Medal (3). Bannister was most notable for his service as commander of the 10th Mountain Division from 2015 to 2017.
Gary D. Speer is a retired career officer of the United States Army. A veteran of Operation Uphold Democracy and the Iraq War,he served from 1972 to 2009 and attained the rank of lieutenant general and served in senior command and staff positions including acting commander of United States Army Europe,deputy commander of United States Army Central,acting commander of United States Southern Command,and deputy commander of United States Army South. His awards included the Defense Distinguished Service Medal,Army Distinguished Service Medal,Defense Superior Service Medal,and Legion of Merit.
 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
