Richard A. Cody

Richard A. Cody
General Richard A. Cody Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army
Nickname(s)	Dick
Born	August 2, 1950 Montpelier, Vermont
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1972–2008
Rank	General
Commands held	101st Airborne Division 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment
Battles/wars	Operation Desert Storm Operation Enduring Freedom
Awards	Distinguished Service Medal Defense Superior Service Medal Legion of Merit (5) Distinguished Flying Cross Bronze Star Meritorious Service Medal (5)
Other work	Corporate Executive, L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc.

Richard "Dick" A. Cody (born August 2, 1950) is a retired United States Army general who served as the 31st Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army from June 24, 2004 to July 31, 2008. He retired from the Army on August 1, 2008.

Early life and career

Cody was born in Montpelier, Vermont, on August 2, 1950. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant upon graduation in 1972 from the United States Military Academy. His military education includes completion of the Transportation Corps Officer Basic and Advanced Courses; the Aviation Maintenance Officer Course; the AH-1, AH-64, AH-64D, UH-60, and MH-60K Aircraft Qualification Courses; the Command and General Staff College, and the United States Army War College. Cody is a Master Aviator with over 5,000 hours of flight time, and is an Air Assault School graduate.^[1]

General Cody at a press conference in 2007.

Prior to his current assignment, Cody spent 32 years in a variety of command and staff assignments, most recently serving as Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3, United States Army. Other key assignments include Commanding General, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell; Director, Operations, Readiness and Mobilization, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, Headquarters, Department of the Army; Deputy Commanding General, Task Force Hawk, Tirana, Albania; Assistant Division Commander for Maneuver, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; Commander, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Commander, 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division; Aide-de-Camp to the Commanding General, Combined Field Army, Korea; and Director, Flight Concepts Division.^[2]

Cody has served several tours with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) as Commander, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment (Attack) during Operation Desert Storm; Aviation Brigade Executive Officer, 101st Aviation Brigade; Battalion Executive Officer and Company Commander in the 229th Attack Helicopter Battalion, and Battalion S-3 in the 55th Attack Helicopter Battalion. He served as a platoon commander in the 2nd Squadron, 9th Cavalry and A Company (Attack), 24th Aviation Battalion and as Commander, E Company (AVIM), 24th Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Georgia.^[3]

Medals and awards

	Defense Distinguished Service Medal
	Army Distinguished Service Medal
	Defense Superior Service Medal
	Legion of Merit (with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters)
	Distinguished Flying Cross
	Bronze Star
	Meritorious Service Medal (with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters)
	Air Medal (with Award numeral "3")
	Army Commendation Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)
	Army Achievement Medal
	Valorous Unit Award
	National Defense Service Medal with Service star
	Southwest Asia Service Medal with two bronze campaign stars
	Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
	Korea Defense Service Medal
	Humanitarian Service Medal
	Army Service Ribbon
	Army Overseas Service Ribbon with bronze award numeral 3
	NATO Medal for Former Yugoslavia
	Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia)
	Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait)

	Air Assault Badge
	Master Army Aviator Badge
	Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge
	Army Staff Identification Badge[4]
	101st Aviation Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia

Post-army career

Cody joined L-3 Communications in 2008. He is currently a Senior Vice President of L-3 Communications over Washington Operations.^[5] In 2013, he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, N.Y.^[6]

General Cody serves as the Chairman of the Board for Homes For Our Troops, a 4 Star related 501c3 organization that builds mortgage free, specially adapted custom homes for our severely wounded veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. General Cody is a Trustee on the Board of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, a 4 Star rated 501c3 that has built and gifted back to the military the Center For the Intrepid Amputee Research and Treatment center at Brooke Army Medical Center, the National Intrepid Center For Excellence (NICOE) PTSD/mTBI research and treatment center at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and 3 of the planned 8 Intrepid Spirit satellite centers to the NICOE. He is also on the Advisory Council of Hope For The Warriors, a national non-profit dedicated to provide a full cycle of non-medical care to combat wounded service members, their families, and families of the fallen from each military branch.^[7]

Family

Cody is married to Vicki Lyn Heavner. They will celebrate their 39th Anniversary this year. They have two sons, Clint and Tyler who are active duty Army Officers and Apache helicopter pilots. Vicki has written a book about military life for military families. The military's largest Child Development Center (CDC) is named after the Codys. It is called the Cody Child Development Center, which is located on Fort Myer, Virginia.^[8]

See also

References

1. U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, Tribute To Retiring Gen Richard A. Cody, August 1, 2008
2. Army Aviation Association of America, Hall of fame Biography, Richard A. Cody, 2009
3. Skybridge Alternative Conference, Speakers biography, Richard A. Cody, 2013
4. U.S. Army, Army Communities of Excellence program, 2008, page 18
5. L-3 Communications, General Richard A. Cody Promoted to Corporate Senior Vice President, June 20, 2011
6. New York Institute of Technology
7. Board of Directors, Hope for the Warriors, retrieved 2011-11-04
8. Gina Cavallaro, Army Times, Va. Post to Name Day Care for Cody, Wife, January 8, 2009

• The original version of this article incorporated text copied from General Richard Cody's Biography on the website of the US Army. By statute, works authored by US Government employees in the course of their duties are in the public domain.