Anthony Arthur "Tony" Cucolo (born August 22, 1957) is a retired

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

. He was notable for his service as the Army's Chief of Public Affairs, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division and

Fort Stewart Fort Stewart is a United States Army post in the U.S. state of Georgia. It lies primarily in Liberty and Bryan counties, but also extends into smaller portions of Evans, Long and Tattnall counties. The population was 11,205 at the 2000 census. ...

/ Hunter Army Airfield,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, and commandant of the Army War College at

Carlisle Barracks Carlisle Barracks is a United States Army facility located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The site of the U.S. Army War College, it is the nation's second-oldest active military base. The first structures were built in 1757, during the French and I ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Early life

Cucolo was born in Suffern, New York on August 22, 1957. Cucolo's grandfather, Anthony Sr. (1897-1983) was an immigrant from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

who rose from laborer to president of a half dozen companies involved in the construction business. The senior Anthony Cucolo also served as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the U.S. Army's

Engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

branch during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Anthony Cucolo III's uncle Belmonte Cucolo (1920-2005) and father Anthony A. Cucolo Jr. both attended the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

, graduating in January 1943 and June 1946, respectively. Belmonte Cucolo served in the Pacific theater during World War II and attained the rank of captain before leaving the Army in 1947. Anthony Cucolo Jr. served in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

, and attained the rank of captain in the Infantry branch before resigning in 1954. Anthony Cucolo III graduated from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

's Xavier High School in 1975, and is a 1979 graduate of the

. He was commissioned a

Second Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

in 1979.

Start of career

Cucolo served primarily in

and

armor Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or f ...

divisions. He commanded two

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

and was an operations officer (S-3) at both the

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions ...

and

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...

level. He commanded an infantry battalion in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and deployed his unit as a

combined arms Combined arms is an approach to warfare that seeks to integrate different combat arms of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects (for example by using infantry and armour in an urban environment in which each supports the other) ...

task force for the first eleven months of the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

Implementation Force The Implementation Force (IFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peace enforcement force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename ''Operation Joint Endeavour''. Background NAT ...

(IFOR) in the contested area of

Brčko Brčko ( sr-cyrl, Брчко, ) is a city and the administrative seat of Brčko District, in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies on the banks of Sava river across from Croatia. As of 2013, it has a population of 39,893 inhabitants. De jure, ...

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and Pars pro toto#Geography, often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of Southern Europe, south and southeast Euro ...

. Cucolo also commanded 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division

Career as general officer

Assistant Division Commander for the

10th Mountain Division The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in the US military to rec ...

Fort Drum Fort Drum is a U.S. Army military reservation and a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson County, on the northern border of New York, United States. The population of the CDP portion of the base was 12,955 at the 2010 census. It is home ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. While in this capacity, he deployed to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

for

Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 a ...

and served as Deputy Commanding General, CJTF-180, during the 10th Mountain Division's service there in 2003-2004. Cucolo's other Joint assignments include duty with the

Joint Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...

at the Pentagon from July 2001 to July 2003, with service in the Strategy and Policy Directorate (J5), Chief of the Future Operations Group in the Operations Directorate (J3) immediately after

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

, and then Chief of European and

Policy, J5. His most recent joint assignment was as Director, Joint Center for Operational Analysis, US Joint Forces Command, from September 2004 through May 2006. In that time, Cucolo deployed to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and

multiple times, embedding in joint operational headquarters there, as well as duty with JTF-Katrina to develop the lessons learned from civil support operations in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. Cucolo's next assignment was a two-year tour in

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...

as the Chief of Public Affairs for the

. On 14 July 2008, Cucolo took over command of the 3rd Infantry Division, leading them to their fourth deployment to

. On 15 April 2011, after 33 months as the Division Commander, Cucolo passed command of the 3rd Infantry Division to Robert B. "Abe" Abrams. Cucolo then spent a year in the Pentagon as the Director of Force Development, G-8, on the Army Staff, and was co-chair of the $35B equipment program execution group, the Army equipment budget for everything from rifles and uniforms to tanks and multi-year helicopter programs. In June 2012 Cucolo assumed command of the Army War College at

Pennsylvania. In March 2014 William E. Rapp was announced as Cucolo's successor, and in June 2014 Cucolo relinquished command and retired to Texas, transitioning from the service in September 2014.

Post-military career

In May 2015 Cucolo was announced as the

University of Texas System The University of Texas System (UT System) is an American government entity of the state of Texas that includes 13 higher educational institutions throughout the state including eight universities and five independent health institutions. The UT ...

's new associate vice chancellor for leadership and veterans' programs. While at UT System (8 universities, 6 medical institutions, 221,000 students and 110,00 employees), he helped build the System's strategic plan, created and led leadership development programs for faculty, staff, and students, served as the Chancellor’s liaison to the Faculty Advisory Council, and supported veterans programs across the System's 14 institutions. In the Spring and Summer of 2018, Cucolo assisted the Austin Chamber of Commerce in the competition for the location selection of the new US Army Futures Command. Austin was selected as home to the new headquarters from more than 32 other cities, and Cucolo received a Volunteer of the Year Award from the Austin Chamber in 2019 for his work. Cucolo departed the UT System in September 2019. He currently co-chairs the National Security Innovation Council, a state-wide business, academic and entrepreneur consortium that accelerates the linkage of problem solving capability in Texas with problem owners in the national security community. Additionally, he is on the Board of Directors of Texas 2036, a public policy

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-govern ...

founded by Dallas attorney Tom Luce. Cucolo is on the roster of US Army "highly qualified experts" and leads or supports several US Army leadership development programs as a senior mentor each year, a role he assumed shortly after transition. He also owns Triple-A Bar None, (AAA-0), a leadership consulting company and conducts leadership development programs with private and public sector organizations.

Personal life

Cucolo is married to the former Evanthia Magni of Athens, Greece. They live and work between Texas and Greece. During Cucolo's deployment to Iraq he was among many high-ranking officers who has become the target of several impersonators. This included many fake social networking and dating service accounts. The victims were initially contacted on Skype and then lured to the fraudulent accounts.

References

External links

*http://www.c-spanvideo.org/tonycucolo *http://www.dvidshub.net/video/84379/maj-gen-tony-cucolo-part-1#.TiePSWG5Mqw {{DEFAULTSORT:Cucolo, Tony 1957 births Living people United States Army personnel of the Iraq War United States Army personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) United States Army generals