Topic: Jay Garner

Lieutenant General Jay Montgomery Garner, USA Ret (born April 15, 1938) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who was appointed in 2003 as Director of the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq following the 2003 invasion of Iraq but was soon replaced by Ambassador Paul Bremer and the ambassador's successor organization to ORHA, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).

Born in Arcadia, Florida, Garner served an enlistment in the United States Marine Corps before attending Florida State University, where he received a B.S. degree in history in 1962. He also holds a Master's in public administration from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.

Commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1962, Garner served two tours in Vietnam, and later led two air defense units in Germany. He also served as deputy commanding general at Fort Bliss, Texas. Garner helped to develop the Patriot missile system and commanded missile batteries during the Gulf War. After the war he was put in charge of securing Kurdish areas in Iraq. He was later named commander of the U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command (working primarily on President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative missile shield program), and concluded his Army career as Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, retiring in 1997 at the rank of lieutenant general.