Ben Hodges

Frederick Benjamin "Ben" Hodges III (born 16 April 1958) is a retired United States Army officer who served as commanding general, United States Army Europe. He has been the Senior Advisor to Human Rights First since June 2022 and also serves as the NATO Senior Mentor for Logistics. He previously held the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis.

A 1980 United States Military Academy graduate, Hodges became an infantry officer, serving as a platoon leader and company executive officer in the 2nd Armored Division (Forward) in Germany. After completing the Infantry Officer Advanced Course in 1984, he served with the 101st Airborne Division. In March 1989 Hodges became an instructor at the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He studied at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and graduated from the School of Advanced Military Studies also at Fort Leavenworth in 1993, becoming G-3 (Chief of Plans) of the 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea.

Hodges served as a battalion executive officer with the 101st Airborne before becoming aide-de-camp to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe in August 1995. He became a battalion commander in the 101st Airborne Division in 1997. He was the Congressional Liaison Officer at the Office of the Chief of Legislative Liaison between 1999 and 2000. After graduating from the National War College in 2001, Hodges served at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Taking command of the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne in 2002, Hodges led the brigade in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In 2004, Hodges became G-3 of the XVIII Airborne Corps and later simultaneously served as CJ3 of Multi-National Corps – Iraq. He became chief of staff of the XVIII Airborne Corps and was the deputy chief of the legislative liaison in the office of the Secretary of the Army beginning in 2007. In August 2009, he became director of operations of Regional Command South in Afghanistan. In December 2010, Hodges became director of the Pakistan Afghanistan Coordination Cell at the Joint Staff and in November 2012 took command of Allied Land Command. He became commander of United States Army Europe in November 2014, holding the position for three years until he retired from the U.S. Army in January 2018.