Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III confirmed by Senate as commander of U.S. Central Command

Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III

The United States senate has confirmed Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III as the new commander for U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.

Austin has been serving as the Army’s vice chief of staff at the Pentagon. He is former commander of Fort Bragg and the 18th Airborne Corps, and he previously was commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. He was nominated by President Barack Obama in December to replace Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis as head of U.S. Central Command.

The U.S. Central Command was established in January 1983, and covers a large geographical area of the globe, consisting of twenty countries including: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

Austin, is an alumnus of the U.S. Military Academy (Westpoint) where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Science in 1975. He also earned a Master’s degree in Education from Auburn University and an M.B.A. from Webster University.