Vincent Brooks: Diversity Inclusion Conference

Retired four-star General and former Commander Vincent Brooks speaks about diversity and inclusion. He shares West Point's journey of how they worked to make the institution more diverse, creating diversity groups and events to encourage opportunities for more people.

General Vincent K. Brooks is a career Army officer who recently retired from active duty as the four-star general in command of all US Forces in Korea, where he concurrently commanded United Nations Command as well as the Republic of Korea—US Combined Forces Command comprising over 650,000 Koreans and Americans under arms.

In 2003, while serving in the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, Brooks was chosen to serve as the deputy director of operations and primary spokesperson for the America's fighting force in the Middle East and Central Asia, the United States Central Command as it conducted combat operations against the Iraq. Due to his charisma and speaking ability, the media, and international viewing public preferred Brooks' daily update briefings to those of other spokespersons. During this time, Brooks was often referred to as "the face of the US military. The Central Command is one of nine US combatant commands that answer directly to the President and the Secretary of Defense. Its territory includes 25 nations in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Brooks also served as the commander for the US Third Army, the US Army portion of Central Command from 2011 to 2013, critical times in the reduction of forces in Iraq, the increase of forces in Afghanistan, the "Arab Spring," and the standoff against Iran.