[17] As commander, Odierno promoted the Iraq War troop surge of 2007 as an alternative to the then-prevailing military strategy.

[19] According to then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Odierno's experience as commander during the surge suited him to succeed Petraeus.

[21] He was confirmed to take over from General Martin E. Dempsey on 7 September 2011, and sworn in as 38th Army chief of staff later that day.

[21] In 2014, Odierno submitted a budget request for 520,000 active-duty soldiers, and said that the bare minimum was 450,000, which would, however, be at a "high risk to meet one major war".

[22] As chief of staff, Odierno said in a 2015 interview with The Daily Telegraph that he was "very concerned" about a decline in the United Kingdom's military spending.

[27] He was named chairman and alternate governor of the National Hockey League's Florida Panthers on 12 October 2017.

His son, retired U.S. Army Captain Anthony K. Odierno, is an Iraq War veteran who lost his left arm to a rocket-propelled grenade.