Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez (born 1953) is the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, serves as commander of the U.S.
V Corps and is the highest-ranking Hispanic in the United States Army.
Born into a poor family in Rio Grande City, Texas, Sanchez studied hard throughout school. He spent one year at the University of Texas on an ROTC scholarship, eventually transferring to Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville) in Kingsville, Texas, where he graduated in 1973 with a double major in math and history.
Shortly after graduation, Sanchez was commissioned into the Army, becoming a paratrooper platoon leader with the 82nd Airborne Division stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
By 1977, he was transferred to Armor. He received promotions swiftly and was stationed all over the United States, in Korea, Panama and Germany.
In 1991, then-Colonel Sanchez served as a battallion commander during Operation De