Forest Park native set to be NATO commander

College: Georgia Tech

Current job: Commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa

Nominated for: Supreme Allied Commander of Europe and Commander of U.S. European Command

Family: Married to Cindy for 34 years, three children

The all-but-certain next leader of NATO and U.S. forces in Europe is a Forest Park native and Georgia Tech grad who still enjoys a hot dog at the Varsity when he’s in town.

Gen. Philip Breedlove had a mostly smooth confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate on Thursday, meaning he likely will take the reins at NATO within a few weeks. President Barack Obama nominated Breedlove, the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa, last month.

The questions Breedlove took Thursday from the Senate Armed Services Committee revealed the breadth of world conflicts he will have a hand in, from the NATO drawdown in Afghanistan to the civil war in Syria to flash points in Africa.

The military is tackling them all under new budget constraints from across-the-board spending cuts, which Breedlove said are having “a big effect on our military capability at … a very volatile time.”

Obama’s original pick to lead NATO, Gen. John Allen, withdrew his name from consideration and retired from the military in January to be with his ailing wife. Allen also was embroiled in a scandal involving a Tampa woman and former CIA Director David Petraeus, though he was cleared of wrongdoing. Breedlove would replace Adm. James Stavridis.

Growing up in Forest Park, Breedlove was “just one of the guys,” recalled longtime friend John Carbo, now a judge in Clayton County. Breedlove’s father was an early Delta Air Lines employee at what is now Hartsfield-Jackson airport.

“He’s a very down-to-earth person,” Carbo said. “Where we grew up was not a pretentious place. He was very, very middle class, working middle class. He was in the same boat with the rest of us.”

A top student at Forest Park High School, Breedlove went onto Georgia Tech to study civil engineering and set his sights on the Air Force through the ROTC program.

“Going to college at Georgia Tech, my main goal was just to get to be a pilot and pursue my dream of flying,” Breedlove told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after the hearing. “The thought of proceeding to a senior level of command was not on my mind.”

From there, he had the itinerant life of a military officer. Breedlove told senators he and his wife, Cindy, had moved 21 times in their 34 years of marriage. He became a decorated command pilot, primarily on the F-16.

Breedlove has served in Europe and Asia, and he rose to become a four-star general in 2011.

NATO, the alliance of 28 European and North American countries, constitutes “our most reliable allies for over 70 years,” Breedlove told the senators. “These partnerships are irreplaceable. We cannot re-balance or pivot towards Asia (as the Obama administration has sought to do) without Europe.”

U.S. military havens in Spain and Italy are crucial, Breedlove said, as they are quick hops away from volatile North Africa, even as the U.S. is seeking out African “lily pads” where it can station forces.

But budget constraints are forcing the military to rethink its overseas commitments. Across-the-board cuts known in Washington-ese as “sequestration” will take about $500 billion from future Pentagon budgets. Though both Republicans and Democrats have said they want to reverse the cuts, they cannot agree whether to push all the cuts to domestic programs (as Republicans prefer) or offset some of them with tax increases (which Democrats want).

The cuts have grounded some Air Force squadrons, Breedlove said, harming readiness as pilots must have recent flying hours to be qualified for combat.

As NATO continues the troop drawdown in Afghanistan with full withdrawal scheduled for next year, Breedlove said his biggest concern there is “making sure the professionalism of the military meets the requirements of the nation. Frankly, I think we’re doing well there and we have some work to do in the Afghan police piece.”

The U.S. has mostly stayed out of the war in Syria, though Breedlove acknowledged that Americans could easily attack Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces from neighboring Turkey. U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has advocated American intervention in Syria, pressed Breedlove about what it would take to impose a no-fly zone.

McCain asked Breedlove about the efficacy of arming Syrian rebels, and Breedlove alluded to the fact that some terrorists are mixed in with nationalist fighters.

“I think if we can assure the weapons were going to the right people and we would not have to face them in the future, it would be helpful to remove the regime,” he said.