KEENE, N.H. (AP) – A Keene native who led two key attacks on Baghdad at the height of the Iraq War has been promoted to brigadier general, a goal he set for himself in junior high school.

David Perkins received the promotion in Germany this month.

Perkins, who grew up in Keene, led two daylight attacks that ended with the seizure of one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces. The attacks were described in the book “Thunder Run,” published last year.

After that, Perkins worked for two years at the Pentagon as executive assistant to the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In July, he was posted to Germany as head of the Army Multinational Training Command, the second-largest training command for U.S. forces in Europe.

His parents, Paul and Louise Perkins, traveled 3,800 miles from Keene to Germany to watch Perkins be promoted from a colonel to general.

Before her son arrived at the training center, Louise Perkins said, it was strictly for U.S. soldiers. But she said Perkins was a driving force behind making the base a center for European forces, too.

“He’s adamant about never having peace in this world until we get along with each other,” Louise Perkins said. “By training these soldiers in other countries, we are working together to fight the terrorists.”

Mrs. Perkins said her son decided in junior high school that he wanted to be a general.

The Perkins’ other son, Richard, is a high-ranking special-forces Marine.

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Information from: The Keene Sentinel, http://www.keenesentinel.com

AP-ES-01-22-06 1145EST