U.S. Army General Visits Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea

General Vincent K. Brooks, the Commanding General of U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), will visit the South Pacific region when he stops in Honiara, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on January 12 and 13.

During his visit to Guadalcanal, General Brooks will lay a wreath at the Solomon Scouts and Coastwatchers Memorial in downtown Honiara and he will tour the World War II Guadalcanal American Memorial along Skyline Drive. He also plans to meet with Solomon Island government representatives and members of Australia’s Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). While in Port Moresby, General Brooks will pay his respects during a guided tour at the Bomana War Cemetery and will meet with high-level Papua New Guinea government officials and military personnel from the Papua New Guinea Defense Force.

USARPAC is the Army service component of the United States Pacific Command (USPACOM). The command exercises administrative control over all U.S. Army forces in the PACOM area of responsibility (AOR), provides trained and ready, combat enabling forces, and performs theater security programs with 36 countries from the Asia-Pacific Regions of Alaska, Japan, and Korea.

General Brooks took command of U.S. Army Pacific on July 2, 2013. The command is home-based at Fort Shafter, Hawaii with portions of the command forward-deployed throughout the Asia-Pacific Region.

General Brooks graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1980. During his 33 years as a commissioned officer, he served in command and staff positions in the United States; in Germany during the Cold War; in Korea; in Kosovo; and in the Middle East. His tours of duty with fighting units include the 82nd Airborne Division as a lieutenant; the 1st Infantry Division (Forward) as a captain; the 1st Cavalry Division as a major and again as a brigadier general; the 2nd Infantry Division as a lieutenant colonel; the Third Army Central (with duty in Headquarters, Coalition Joint Task Force – Kuwait) and the 3rd Infantry Division (with duty in North Atlantic Treaty Organization-Kosovo Forces) as a colonel; Headquarters, United States Central Command; Headquarters, 1st Cavalry Division (with duty as Headquarters, Multi-National Division-Baghdad) and Headquarters, III Corps and Fort Hood as a brigadier general; Headquarters, 1st Infantry Division (with duty as Headquarters U.S. Division - South) as a major general; and most recently as the Commanding General of Third United States Army/U.S. Army Central (ARCENT) continuously deployed to the Middle East countries of Kuwait, Qatar, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Jordan and United Arab Emirates.

General Brooks served at the national-level in the Pentagon. Within Headquarters, Department of the Army, he fulfilled staff duties as aide-de-camp to the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, and later as the Army’s Chief of Public Affairs. Within The Joint Staff, he fulfilled duties as Deputy Director (J5) for Political-Military Affairs for the Western Hemisphere, and later as the Deputy Director (J5) for the War on Terrorism.

General Brooks holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy; a Master of Military Art and Science from the School of Advanced Military Studies at the United States Army Command and General Staff College; and an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the New England School of Law in Boston. He also served as a National Security Fellow at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government.

General Brooks is married to Dr. Carol P. Brooks, an educator and physical therapist. Both the general and his wife are from career military families.