Iowa federal prosecutor tapped as Army general

(AP) - President Obama has nominated a Cedar Rapids-based assistant U.S. attorney to serve as brigadier general in the U.S. Army Reserve and chief judge of the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.

The U.S. Attorney's office for Iowa's Northern District announced Patrick Reinert's appointment Wednesday. As assistant U.S. attorney, the 49-year-old Reinert handles criminal prosecutions and serves as chief of the office's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. He has been an assistant U.S. attorney in Iowa since 1990.

As an Army judge, Reinert is commander of the 150th Judge Advocate General Detachment in Alexandria, Virginia, an Army Reserve Unit composed of military judges presiding over court-martials worldwide. He was deployed from February 2005 to February 2006 and conducted over 90 courts-martial in Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.