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Chiarelli confirmed as next vice chief of staff

Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli was confirmed by the full Senate on Wednesday to receive his fourth star and become the 32nd vice chief of staff of the Army.

He will replace Gen. Dick Cody, who will retire in August after 36 years of service.

Chiarelli, 57, commanded the 1st Cavalry Division for a year in Baghdad in 2004 and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and assigned as commanding general of V Corps in Heidelberg, Germany, in November 2005.

He deployed to Iraq again in January 2006 and commanded Multi-National Corps-Iraq for a year before returning to Washington, D.C., where he became senior military assistant to the secretary of Defense.

He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in September 1972.

Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the current commander of III Corps who in February returned from 14 months as chief of MNC-I in Baghdad, had been tapped for the vice chief job earlier this year.

But when Central Command commander Adm. William Fallon resigned unexpectedly in March, Odierno was nominated by the White House to return to Iraq and take over the top spot at Multi-National Force-Iraq, replacing Gen. David Petraeus, who was selected to head Central Command.

The Senate Armed Services Committee on May 22 held a confirmation hearing for Odierno and Petraeus but has not yet voted on their confirmations.