William Michael Steele is a retired
United States Army lieutenant general who commanded major organizations including
U.S. Army, Pacific
The United States Army Pacific (USARPAC) is an Army Service Component Command (ASCC) designated by the Secretary of the Army (SECARMY); it may also serve as a Joint Task Force headquarters. It is the army component unit of the United States Indo ...
, the
Combined Arms Center and the
82d Airborne Division
The 82nd Airborne Division is an airborne infantry division of the United States Army specializing in parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops Magazine'', 25 November 2012. Archived from thorig ...
. A native of
Atlanta, Georgia, he graduated from
The Citadel in 1967 and earned a Master of Arts in management from
Webster University in
St. Louis. His military education includes the
National War College
The National War College (NWC) of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active.
History
The National War Colle ...
.
Commissioned an armor officer and assigned to the 3d Armored Division in Germany, he branch transferred to infantry while serving in
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
. As an infantry officer, he served in airborne, air assault, light and mechanized Infantry units. In South Vietnam, Steele served from 1969 to 1970 as battalion advisor for the
23rd Ranger Battalion and operations advisor for the 2nd Ranger Group conducting operations in the highlands of
Kontum and
Pleiku Provinces in South Vietnam and in Cambodia. Promoted to brigadier general in 1990, his major command assignments include serving as deputy commanding general of the US Army Infantry Center at Fort Benning, Georgia, assistant division commander for the 8th Infantry Division in Germany and deputy commandant for the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. LTG Steele served as commanding general, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, U. S. Army Pacific headquartered at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, and the U. S. Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Other major duty assignments for Steele were commanding officer, 2d Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and commanding officer, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (Devils in Baggy Pants) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, executive assistant to General Maxwell Thurman when he was commanding general, U. S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, and as director for operations for the U.S. Atlantic Command in Norfolk, Virginia. Steele retired from active duty on 30 September 2001. After retirement, he served as a senior executive in the defense industry and on several boards and as a member of The Citadel board of visitors.
Awards and decorations
References
United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War
Commandants of the United States Army Command and General Staff College
Living people
Military personnel from Atlanta
Recipients of the Air Medal
Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal
Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)
Recipients of the Gallantry Cross (Vietnam)
Recipients of the Legion of Merit
Recipients of the Silver Star
The Citadel alumni
United States Army generals
Members of The Citadel Board of Visitors
Year of birth missing (living people)
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