America’s giant General gets visibly emotional when he talks about the sacrifices made by U.S. troops in Iraq.
Last week, Fox News spent a full day with Gen. Ray Odierno, following the top U.S. commander in Iraq from his morning briefings at Camp Victory through a visit to a base near Kirkuk to an evening meeting with the U.S. ambassador.
Odierno was clearly most passionate when talking about his belief in the young men and women serving today. He calls today’s military a “hell of a generation of young people,” and nearly teared up when praising their commitment and dedication.
The 6’5” general sat down with us to discuss Iraq’s national elections, and the plan to rapidly drawdown U.S. troops later this summer.
He also looked back on the surge—the buildup of 20,000 U.S. troops here in 2007. Odierno was a leading advocate of the strategy at a time when Americans were already dying by the dozens every month. He says it was a “terrible burden” as the U.S. death toll continued rising in the early months of the surge, but says he always believed the strategy would work.
Much more from the General below— from his thoughts on repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell to the last movie he saw, to the last time he cried.