Entered Service: May 1980
Current Command: Chief, Army Public Affairs
At West Point, Brooks became the first African-American in the
school's history to be named cadet brigade commander (the top-ranking
cadet), a position in which, somewhat like the president of a college
class, he led more than 4,000 cadets during his senior year. Brooks
graduated first in his class in 1980. Moving through the ranks in
the Army, Brooks served as a brigade commander during Operation
Joint Guardian in Kosovo. In June 2002, he became the spokesman
for the U.S. Army Central Command in Qatar during Operation Enduring
Freedom. During the American-led war with Iraq in the early months
of 2003, Brooks handled the daily press conferences for the command
and was widely referred to as "the face of the U.S. military."
