One last round of stories about Lt. Gen. David Petraeus who is leaving Fort Leavenworth to become the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq – and then we’ll move on.The Washington Post profiled the general. Some excerpts:¢ Long recognized as one of the Army’s premier intellectuals, with a PhD from Princeton to complement his West Point education, Petraeus, 54, will inherit one of the toughest assignments handed any senior officer since the Vietnam War. He takes command of 132,000 U.S. troops in a country shattered by insurgency and sectarian bloodletting, with a home front that is divided and disheartened after 3,000 American combat deaths.¢ _After spending 2 1/2 of the past four years in Iraq, as a division commander and then as the officer overseeing the initial reconstruction of Iraqi security forces, Petraeus is known to believe that a stable, pacified Iraq is still possible — if not probable — but not without dramatically improved security. Having also served in Bosnia after the catastrophic civil war there, he has told friends that he sees troubling parallels between that country and Iraq. Two months ago, he said, “I actually stay awake occasionally at night trying to figure out the path ahead.”_¢ _As he rose through the ranks, Petraeus alternated command and staff assignments with duty as an aide to several of the Army’s most prominent four-star generals, a pattern that caused one envious peer to call him a “professional son.” At Princeton University, Petraeus’s dissertation, “The American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam,” examined the caution that seized the high command after the war._¢ _Twice, accidents almost ended his career, or even his life. In 1991, as a battalion commander at Fort Campbell, Ky., he was shot in the chest with an M-16 rifle when a soldier tripped during a training exercise. Rushed into surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he underwent five hours of surgery by Bill Frist, who a decade later became Senate majority leader. While skydiving in 2000, Petraeus survived the abrupt collapse of his parachute 60 feet up. His shattered pelvis was reassembled with a plate and long screws._¢ _His cordial relations with the media, and the Newsweek cover story that depicted him as a potential savior for the Bush administration, rankled some of his superiors in the Pentagon, according to two now-retired senior generals. When Petraeus was sent to command the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in 2005, some of his peers wondered whether his career was in eclipse._The New York Times looks ahead:_As a supporter of increased forces in Iraq, General Petraeus is expected to back a rapid five-brigade expansion, in sharp contrast to his predecessor, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., who has been openly skeptical that additional troops would help stabilize the country.__Having overseen the recent drafting of the military’s counterinsurgency manual, General Petraeus is also likely to change the American military operation in Baghdad. American forces can be expected to take up positions in neighborhoods throughout the capital instead of limiting themselves to conducting patrols from large, fortified bases in and around the city.__The overarching goal of the American military operation may be altered as well. Under General Casey, the principal focus has been on transferring security responsibilities to the Iraqi security forces, so American troops could gradually withdraw. Now, the emphasis will shift to protecting the Iraqi population from sectarian strife and insurgent attacks.__Whether a modicum of stability can be achieved amid the violence and sectarian agendas in Iraq is uncertain at best. But General Petraeus seems determined to give the military’s new counterinsurgency plan its most ambitious field test._Other Kansas military headlines:Fort Leavenworth(StrategyPage.com) Book Reviews: Perhaps the most significant American scholar of the Eastern Front over the past twenty years has been David Glantz. One of the founders of the Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth when he was an officer on active duty, Glantz was one of the first westerners to gain access to the Soviet military archives. Since then he has turned out a number of works on the eastern front focused on the Red Army’s operations. (Fort Leavenworth Lamp) 38th Infantry to train at BCTC: The 38th Infantry Division, Indiana Army National Guard, will conduct a Warfighter exercise at the Battle Command Training Center during January at Fort Leavenworth. More than 1,500 Soldiers from the 38th Division and its subordinate units, representing National Guard units from eight different states, will be participating in the exercise.Fort Riley(AP) South Carolina troops expected at Camp Shelby this week: About 1,000 National Guard soldiers from South Carolina are expected at Camp Shelby this week to begin training for deployment for Afghanistan. They left Columbia, S.C., on Saturday after a send-off ceremony, for two months of training – some going to Camp Shelby and others to Fort Riley, Kan. The unit’s 1,800 soldiers are expected to leave in April for a yearlong deployment to a base dubbed “Camp Phoenix” outside the city of Kabul.Kansas National Guard(American Forces Press Service) National Guard Rescues People, Cattle After Severe Storms: National Guard troops in eight states rescued people and hauled hay to livestock following a severe end-of-year winter storm that stretched from America’s northern to southern borders. At least 13 people in five states died in the storm. … Some 114 Army and Air National Guard members assisted at emergency shelters and provided power, supplies and transportation after 15 to 36 inches of snow stranded motorists, emergency services and medical personnel in roadside areas in western Kansas. … A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter stood by for rescues as Guard members helped with house-to-house welfare checks. Four armories served as shelters. Accumulating snow caused a fire department building to collapse, and the Kansas National Guard provided an armory for emergency responders. A Black Hawk dropped hay to snow- and ice-bound cattle.