Lieutenant General Mark Hertling is a national security and military analyst for CNN. Hertling served for 37 years in the US Army, retiring in 2013 as the Commanding General of US Army Europe and Seventh Army.

Hertling was a tanker and cavalryman, and he spent over three years in combat during his career. His combat tours were as the Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Armored Division in Baghdad in 2003 to 2004, and then he later commanded that same Division – a 30,000-strong US and Multinational Task Force Iron in Northern Iraq - from 2007 to 2009 during the Iraq surge. During that period, MND-N conducted operations with five different Iraqi Army divisions from October 2007 until December 2008. In Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Hertling was a Cavalry Squadron Operations Officer, and his unit was cited for their actions during the Battle of the Medina Ridge.

He served or commanded at every level from Platoon to Field Army, and he has led training at all of the Combat Training Centers in the United States and the Joint-Multinational Training Center in Europe. He served as the Chief of War Plans (J7) on the Joint Staff, serving in that position on 9/11. Throughout his military career, Hertling saw alternating assignment between operational and training postings, and he was considered to be a skilled trainer and a soldier-focused leader and commander.

Retiring from the Army on 1 January 2013, Hertling has become an advisor on Medical Global Strategy and Physician Leadership, and he has developed a successful Healthcare Leadership Course that he teaches at several organizations. In September 2013, Hertling was appointed as one of 25 members to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sport, and Nutrition. He also serves as a senior advisor to “Mission Readiness,” a non-profit, bipartisan organization of retired military leaders who call for smart investments for America’s youth, and as an advisory member to “Operation Gratitude,” a California-based organization which supports service members, first responders, and healthcare providers.

Hertling is a 1975 graduate of West Point, he has a Masters Degree in Kinesiology from the Indiana University School of Public Health (where he now serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board), and he earned a Doctor of Business Administration from the Crummer School of Business, Rollins College. Hertling is an energetic and passionate public speaker on leadership, strategy, physical fitness and eliminating obesity, and American youth.