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Lynch nominated to replace Odierno

An armor officer who has commanded the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) for the past year has been nominated for advancement to lieutenant general and assignment as the commanding general of III Corps and Fort Hood, Texas, the Army’s second-largest post.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a West Point graduate with an advanced engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will, if confirmed, replace Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, President Bush’s choice to become the next commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq.

Lynch will be replaced at Fort Stewart, Ga., home of the 3rd Infantry Division, by Maj. Gen. Anthony A. Cucolo, chief of Army public affairs for the past two years.

The 3rd Infantry Division is returning from a 15-month deployment to Iraq.

Lynch, commissioned in 1977, has had several assignments at Fort Hood throughout his career, to include company, battalion and brigade command with the 2nd Armored Division, 1st Cavalry Division and 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized).

Before his current assignment as 3rd ID commander, Lynch was the deputy chief of staff for strategic effects with Multi-National Force-Iraq.

DISCUSS: The right choice?