page_title: Edward Soriano
section_title: Military career
hierarchical_section_title: Edward Soriano / Military career
caption_attribution_description: English: General Handshake: Executive Directors Lt. Gen. Hirotoshi Kan (right), Eastern Army commanding general, Lt. Gen Edward Soriano (left), 1st United States Corps commanding general, and exercise Executive Agent Maj. Gen. Elbert Perkins (center), United States Army Japan commanding general, join in a handshake to signify bilateral unification during Sunday's opening ceremony for Yama Sakura 45 at Camp Asaka, Japan. The six-day exercise is intended to strengthen bilateral relations between U.S. and Japanese armies.
context_page_description: Lieutenant General Edward Soriano is an American retired military officer. He is the highest-ranking Filipino American officer to have served in the United States military, and the first promoted to a general officer. Born in the Philippines, Soriano moved with his family to the United States and graduated from Salinas High School before being commissioned as an officer through Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps at San Jose State University.
  Soriano served with infantry units throughout the United States, Korea, and in West Germany. Later, Soriano was a liaison officer during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and deployed during Operation Joint Endeavor; he retired in March 2005. Since retiring from the army, Soriano has worked for the aerospace and defense technology company Northrop Grumman and has sat on various boards of directors.
context_section_description: Soriano was commissioned as an infantry officer through the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps at SJSU, in 1970. Soriano's first assignment was at the Recondo School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, which was followed by command of an anti-tank platoon in the 508th Infantry. Soriano was then sent to Korea where he commanded Combat Support Company, 1st Battalion,  23d Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division, before he was transferred to command Company A, 3d Battalion,  47th Infantry, 3d Brigade, 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington. After attending the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Soriano served with the United States Army Recruiting Command in Albany, New York, before commanding Company C, 1st Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division in Germany. Following his service in Europe, Soriano attended the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth and University of Missouri, Kansas City, before serving in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans and in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel at The Pentagon. After his service in The Pentagon, he commanded 2nd Battalion, 41st Infantry, 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas, before attending the United States Army War College and returning to The Pentagon.
  During operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Soriano served as the chief of the liaison team to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. After the conflict ended, Soriano contributed to the Secretary of Defense's Gulf War Report as the chief of the army section while serving in the Office of the Chief of Staff. In 1992, Soriano received his first assignment at Fort Carson, Colorado, as the commander of the 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. Following this command, Soriano returned to Germany to serve with the 3d and 1st Infantry Divisions, which included deployments to Bosnia for peacekeeping during Operation Joint Endeavor. Returning to the United States, he undertook various positions in Virginia and The Pentagon, including service as Director, Officer Personnel Management, within the Total Army Personnel Command. From 1999 to 2001, Soriano commanded the 7th Infantry Division and Fort Carson. Soriano served as Director of Homeland Security for United States Joint Forces Command from October 2001 to August 2002, which laid the foundations for what has become the Northern Command.
  Soriano's final assignment was command of I Corps and Fort Lewis, beginning in August 2002. Under his leadership, Fort Lewis became a force provider for Operation Iraqi Freedom, including the first deployment of the Stryker with the 2nd Infantry Division. In June 2004, as the commander of Fort Lewis, Soriano ordered the court-martial of Ryan G. Anderson, who was convicted of providing aid to al-Qaeda and was sentenced in September 2004 to life in prison with the possibility of parole after Soriano removed the death penalty as a possible sentencing option. In September 2004, Soriano met with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at Malacanang, who he had met before during Arroyo's state visit in May 2003, after being invited by General Narciso Abaya, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. In November 2004, Soriano turned over command of I Corps and Fort Lewis to Lieutenant General James M. Dubik, and finally retired from active duty on 1 March 2005.
caption: LTG Soriano, Chūshou Hirotoshi Kan, and MG Perkins shaking hands in 2004
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 10D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2004:01:27 16:59:20", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "212", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1046", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5902", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "19/2", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2004:01:25 13:57:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2004:01:25 13:57:49", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "293791/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "26607/4096", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-1/2", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "1111/256", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Average", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "100", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1280", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "850", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "512000/223", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "16000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}