Commissioned as an army second lieutenant in 1962, Garner served two tours in Vietnam, and later led two air defense units in Germany.

He was later named commander of the United States 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.

Garner served on a presidential panel, chaired by Donald Rumsfeld, which specializes in space and missile threats.

[needs update] In 2003 Garner was selected to lead the post-war reconstruction efforts in Iraq, along with three deputies, including British Major-General Tim Cross.

[3] Following the defeat of the Saddam Hussein regime in Baghdad, there was widespread looting, rampaging, and general chaos throughout Iraq.

[5] The Bush administration selected Lieutenant General Jay Garner to lead the Coalition Provisional Authority (an intermediary government) in an attempt to rid Iraq of the chaos and anarchy that consumed the area.

[6] Garner began reconstruction efforts in March 2003 with plans aiming for Iraqis to hold elections within 90 days and for the U.S. to quickly pull troops out of the cities to a desert base.

In an interview with Time magazine, Garner stated that "as in any totalitarian regime, there were many people who needed to join the Baath Party in order to get ahead in their careers.

[4] General Garner would be replaced by a new American Ambassador to Iraq, Paul Bremer, who took his role as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.

[9] Garner was interviewed in No End in Sight, a 2007 documentary movie very critical of the handling of the Iraq occupation.