Vincent Keith Brooks (born October 24, 1958) is a United States Army general who is the current commander of United States Forces Korea, United Nations Command and ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command. He previously served as commanding general of the United States Army Pacific and before that as the commanding general of Third Army. Brooks was the United States Central Command Deputy Director of Operations during the War in Iraq, and frequently briefed the media, which raised his public profile. He also served as the Chief of Army Public Affairs The Pentagon. He was the deputy commander of 1st Cavalry Division 1st Cavalry Division in Baghdad during the 2006-2008 “surge” and upon returning to the United States became the commanding general of the same division. He later was commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division. General Brooks assumed his current assignment on April 30, 2016.
Brooks was born in Anchorage, Alaska. He grew up in an Army family in California, and his father Major General Leo A. Brooks Sr. and brother Brigadier General Leo A. Brooks Jr. both retired after careers in the Army. His uncle, Francis K. Brooks was the majority leader of the Vermont House of Representatives and a member of the Vermont Senate. Vincent Brooks attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia, for two years and then Jesuit High School in Carmichael, California, and graduated in 1976. He was a basketball player and he decided to follow his brother to West Point to study to become an officer.
At West Point, Brooks was the academy’s first African-American Cadet First Captain, the highest position (Cadet Brigade Commander) a cadet can hold, an appointment that brought much public visibility at an early age in life. He graduated from West Point in 1980. After graduating Brooks served in South Korea and Kosovo among other places. In Kosovo he concurrently served as the deputy commander of the U.S. force in Kosovo (Task Force Falcon) and as commander of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart in Georgia. From that position he moved to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. While serving there he was temporarily assigned to be Deputy Director of Operations at U.S. Central Command or CENTCOM. Returning to the Pentagon and The Joint Staff in April 2003 he became the Strategic Planner for the Global War on Terrorism.
In his role as Deputy Director of Operations he also became the spokesperson of United States Central Command, the main force in the Middle East. At that time he was the youngest general officer in the Army. He served as the Commanding General of the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Rileyin Kansas from April 2009 to May 2011 and then became 3rd Army Commanding General.
As part of the “Asia Pivot” of the East Asian foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration, Brooks envisioned and brought into execution a “Pacific Pathways” of a single US Army unit that would move to different countries of the Asia and Pacific regions for up to three months at a time to develop first-hand understanding of the region. While initially criticized in some circles the innovative approach has met high acclaim from the countries of the region and the units involved in the missions.
In March 2016, Brooks was nominated to command United States Forces Korea, the U.S.-South Korea Combined Forces Command, and United Nations Command, succeeding Curtis Scaparrotti.