Question: Facts:   - allegiance: united states of america    - commands: united states army europe      - birth date: 6 april 1958    - serviceyears: 1980 -- present    - name: frederick b. -lrb- ben -rrb- hodges    - branch: united states army    - image: frederick b. hodges.jpg    - birth place: quincy , florida , u.s.    - rank: lieutenant general   Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of ben hodges .
Answer:
frederick benjamin -lrb- ben -rrb- hodges -lrb- born april 6 , 1958 -rrb- is a united states army lieutenant general who serves as commanding general , united states army europe .a native of quincy , florida , hodges graduated from the united states military academy in may 1980 and was commissioned in the infantry .after his first assignment as an infantry lieutenant in germany , he commanded infantry units at the company , battalion and brigade levels at the 101st airborne division and in operation iraqi freedom .his most recent operational assignment was as director of operations , regional command south , in kandahar , afghanistan .hodges has also served in a variety of joint and army staff positions to include tactics instructor at the infantry school ; chief of plans , 2nd infantry division in korea ; aide-de-camp to the supreme allied commander europe ; army congressional liaison officer ; task force senior observer-controller at the joint readiness training center , fort polk , la ; coalition/joint -3 -lrb- cj3 -rrb- of multi-national corps-iraq in operation iraqi freedom ; chief of staff , xviii airborne corps at fort bragg ; and director of the pakistan afghanistan coordination cell on the joint staff ; chief of legislative liaison for the united states army .prior to assuming command of united states army europe , hodges was commander , nato allied land command from 2012 to 2014 .