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. He is a two-time combat veteran in both the Gulf War (brigade operations officer/S3, 24th Infantry Division) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division). Previously, he commanded the 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division from 1991–1993, served as the operations officer/G3 of the 3rd Infantry Division from 1994–1995, and commanded the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Armored Division from 1995 to 1997, during which time the brigade was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina as one of the two US brigades during the IFOR mission to implement the terms of the Dayton Peace Accords from December 1995 through November 1996. 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). While working for the Deputy Secretary of Defense, he was involved in the early planning stages of the War in Afghanistan and Iraq War. He was promoted to major general in 2002 and in the spring of 2002 General Eric Shinseki chose Batiste to be commander of the 1st Infantry Division of the United States Army, which was deployed to Iraq from February 2004 to March 2005, during the war. Batiste declined a promotion to the rank of lieutenant general and subsequently asked to be retired from active duty, because he was concerned about U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's failed strategy and policies concerning the war.