[4] John Batiste was commissioned as an infantry officer from West Point (Class of 1974) and served in five US Army heavy divisions over the next 31 years.

Following brigade command, he was promoted to brigadier general in 1997 and served as the plans officer for NATO's Southern Region (1997–1999), assistant division commander-maneuver of the 1st Cavalry Division (1999–2000), Joint Staff/J8 Deputy Director for Joint Warfighting Capability Assessment (2000–2001), and as the senior military assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense (2001–2002).

He served as president and CEO of Klein Steel Service Inc in Rochester, NY from 2005 to 2013, during which time the company was recognized as an IndustryWeek Best Plant in 2011.

[4] In 2006, Batiste testified before the U.S. Senate where he criticized Donald H. Rumsfeld for a lack of leadership, and the failure of the Bush administration to develop a comprehensive strategy to deal with worldwide Islamic extremism with clearly defined goals.

[9] Batiste said, on CBS's The Early Show:[6] "...we went to war with a flawed plan that didn't account for the hard work to build the peace after we took down the regime.

"[10] Regarding the idea of a "war-czar" post in president Bush's U.S. government cabinet, Batiste commented: "Standing up a war czar is just throwing in another layer of bureaucracy.

We have no option; we need to be successful and protect our strategic interests in the region; we need to set the Iraqi people up for self-reliance with their form of representative government that takes into account tribal, religious, and ethnic complexity that has always defined Iraq.

[13][14][15] In testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives in June 2007, Batiste said, "Secondary interests are that our withdrawal cannot create a humanitarian disaster or an Iraq dominated by another state(s) in the region.

On December 8, 2007, Batiste co-wrote an editorial in the Washington Post stating, "Third, the counterinsurgency campaign led by Gen. David Petraeus is the correct approach in Iraq.