Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling has been chosen to command U.S. Army Europe and 7th Army, headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany. Hertling is currently a deputy commanding general, initial military training, at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Va. Hertling has served in Germany many times during his career, most recently as commander of the 1st Armored Division. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Before he left Europe for a new assignment in 2009, Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling recalled in an interview a conversation he once had with Massoud Barzani, and how the president of Iraqi Kurdistan characterized the “power of the chair.”
Leaders need to “realize the chair gives them the power to serve others, not themselves,” the former 1st Armored Division boss remembered Barzani as saying.
That philosophy is something Hertling has always followed as a leader. After a 20-month hiatus from Europe he should soon have a chance to show it again on this side of the world.
President Barack Obama has nominated Hertling, now a lieutenant general, to be the next commander of U.S. Army Europe and 7th Army. Typically, those nominated for the top Army post in Europe take command a month or two later.
Currently, Hertling is a deputy commanding general for the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Va. If his nomination is approved by the Senate, Hertling would succeed Gen. Carter F. Ham, becoming the 36th commanding general of USAREUR.
Ham has been tabbed to succeed Army Gen. Kip Ward as the commander of U.S. Africa Command, which, like USAREUR, is headquartered in Germany.
Hertling, 57, was the 1st AD commander from 2007 to 2009. Prior to holding that post, he led the Joint Multinational Training Command in Grafenwöhr, Germany, and led USAREUR’s plans and operation branch before taking the reins at 1st AD.
The three-star general has served two tours of duty in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. During his first tour in 2003, he eventually became known to many Americans as a primary spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq. He was the guy who essentially introduced reporters and television audiences to the then-unknown military acronym “IED,” or improvised explosive device.
In 1991, he was part of the invasion force dispatched to Kuwait and Iraq for the first Gulf War, serving as a cavalry squadron operations officer. He later received a Purple Heart and an Army Commendation Medal for valor.
Military service runs in Hertling’s family. His two sons and a daughter-in-law have deployed to Iraq multiple times.
Hertling isn’t afraid to wear his emotions on his camouflaged sleeve.
While serving as commander of Multi-National Division-North in Iraq, he routinely scrawled handwritten letters to family members of deployed soldiers he met outside the wire, usually privates or young lieutenants.
“Mark Hertling is an excellent choice to command U.S. Army Europe,” Ham wrote Friday in a message to Stripes. “He’s a great leader who knows this command very well. I know I’ll be leaving USAREUR in good hands.”
doughertyk@estripes.osd.mil
