This is an accepted version of this page Frederick Benjamin "Ben" Hodges III[1] (born 16 April 1958) is a retired United States Army officer who served as commanding general, United States Army Europe.

[2] He previously held the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis.

Hodges served as a battalion executive officer with the 101st Airborne before becoming aide-de-camp to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe in August 1995.

After graduating from the National War College in 2001, Hodges served at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk.

[7] Hodges entered the United States Military Academy, graduating in early May 1980 with a commission in the infantry.

[8] In February 1981, Hodges became a platoon leader in A Company of the 3d Battalion, 41st Infantry (Mechanized), 2nd Armored Division, stationed in Germany.

In July Hodges became Senior Battalion Observer and Controller of the Operations Group at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk.

On 23 March 2003, before the start of the operation, Sergeant Hassan Akbar attacked other soldiers of the brigade, killing two and injuring fourteen.

Hodges suffered a minor shrapnel wound in the attack and testified at Akbar's court-martial in April 2005.

[14] Hodges replaced Lieutenant General Donald M. Campbell Jr. in command of United States Army Europe on 5 November 2014.

I think the Alliance should take a hard look at the 2-percent calculus to redefine it.”[25] He has argued for including dual-use infrastructure in the 2-percent, a "win-win" that would address "the most urgent problem in European security" in military mobility, while also offering benefits to civilian life.

[28][29] His comments on NATO and European security have appeared in several international media outlets, including an interview on LNK Info TV in Lithuania[30] and Anne Will,[31] and articles in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Germany.

[32] He coauthored a book with General John R. Allen and Julian Lindley-French, Future War and the Defence of Europe, in 2021.

[33] He endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. presidential election in an op-ed with Ambassador Robert A. Mandell and Lieutenant General Donald M. Campbell Jr.[34] He has spoken about the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Colored).

[36] Hodges' commentary on foreign militaries, such as his assessment on the strategic weaknesses of Russia's armed forces, has been distributed by news agencies such as Times Radio.

[37][38] In September 2022, he penned an op-ed for the British publication The Daily Telegraph in which he argued that Russia would lose in its war against Ukraine at a comprehensive level that will then be followed by the disintegration of the Russian Federation.

He labeled the failures of governance under Russian leader Vladimir Putin as the trigger of a current "crisis of confidence" without an easy or simple outcome.