Officer Army's top state native

He gets 3rd star, top Pentagon gig

Lt. Gen. Aundre Piggee is shown in this photo.
Lt. Gen. Aundre Piggee is shown in this photo.

Lt. Gen. Aundre Piggee became the U.S. Army's highest-ranking Arkansas native on Thursday when he received his third star.

The Stamps native will serve as the deputy chief of staff in charge of Army logistics, overseeing logistics policies, programs and plans for the Army from the Pentagon. Piggee will report directly to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

"I am one of the luckiest people in the world today," Piggee said. "My father proudly served in [Gen. George] Patton's Third Army as a truck driver. His service and stories helped me make up my mind to follow a military career."

A graduate of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Piggee has spent 35 years as a soldier, serving three times at Fort Hood in Texas and deploying with troops to Iraq, Kuwait and Bosnia-Herzegovina, according to an Army news release.

He also served as the commanding general of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command in Germany, the logistics officer in charge at the United Nations Command/U.S. Forces Korea and the executive officer to the Army vice chief of staff.

Four-star Gen. Dennis Via, who is in charge of the U.S. Army Materiel Command, hosted the ceremony at the Pentagon and praised the Arkansas native, who is now one of only 50 Army lieutenant generals. Via retires today.

"Our Army has seen fit to name him commander five times during his career and twice during operational assignments." Via said. "He has clearly demonstrated the potential for even greater accomplishments in the future."

Piggee's mother, Maxine Piggee of Texarkana, and his wife, Kassi, pinned the rank of lieutenant general to his service coat at Thursday's ceremony.

Aundre Piggee has been serving as the director at U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. There he led all logistics and engineering efforts in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

He helmed the Army's effort to reduce its presence in Afghanistan, build partner capacity in Iraq and prepare for missions in Syria, according to the Army's release.

Moving forward, Piggee said he plans to focus on building readiness and preparing a future force.

Metro on 09/30/2016

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