Maj. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr., commander of Schofield Barracks' 25th Infantry Division since May 2008, has been promoted to lieutenant general and will be the next commanding general of the Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Caslen, who returned from Iraq in October after commanding 20,000 troops, has been in the Army for 34 years.

In October 2008 Caslen took 4,500 soldiers from Schofield Barracks, including its 3rd Brigade Combat Team, and became the leader of Multi-National Division North, also known as Task Force Lighting, which operates near Tikrit in northern Iraq. He was responsible for an area the size of Ohio.

Caslen served in the 1991 Gulf War, and he graduated from West Point in 1975.

He took the 25th Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 14th Regiment, to Haiti during a 1994 peacekeeping mission.

Caslen also served two combat tours in Afghanistan before becoming the 70th commandant of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

The Senate has to confirm his nomination and promotion.

He will replace Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV, whom President Barack Obama appointed in October to become commander of Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan and NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan.

Caldwell served as assistant commander of the 25th Infantry in 2001, before becoming deputy director for operations for the U.S. Pacific Command. He also commanded the 25th Infantry Division's Wolfhound battalion in 1993.

Caldwell's father and grandfather, both West Point graduates, also served at Schofield Barracks. His father graduated from Leilehua High School, and his grandfather, Col. William Caldwell II, was an Army dentist at Schofield when the Japanese attacked in 1941.