Eaton was raised in Oklahoma. His father, U.S. Air Force Colonel Norman Dale Eaton, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1949 and went on to become a U.S. Air Force pilot. He was shot down over Laos in December 1969 and was listed as missing in action for many years. His remains were recovered in 2004, identified, and buried at Arlington National Cemetery in early 2007. Eaton followed in his father's footsteps to West Point in 1968, graduating with the class of 1972. He is fluent in French, receiving a Master of Arts from Middlebury College in French and Political Science.
Career
As a lieutenant and captain, Eaton served in the 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado, and was later transferred to Germany as part of 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, where he served as an assistant brigade S3 officer and later was an infantry company commander. As major and lieutenant colonel Eaton was assigned to key battalion and brigade staff positions in the old 9th Infantry Division, then on the I Corps staff. He also commanded the 3rd Battalion, 14th Infantry, 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York, and later served as the G-3 of the division during Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. As a colonel in the mid 1990s he commanded an Army brigade in Germany and following promotion to brigadier general was the assistant division commander of the 1st Armored Division. In 2000, he returned to the U.S. to serve as deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Infantry Center and School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and later he led the creation of the Army's new Stryker brigades at Fort Lewis, Washington. As a major general he returned to Fort Benning to be commanding general of the Army Infantry Center and School. He was then assigned to Iraq as Commanding General of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team, where he was in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004. Upon return to the US he was Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Training, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia.
VoteVets
After retiring from the Army in 2006 Eaton was a frequent guest on various media outlets, where he often criticized the Bush administration's prosecution of the Iraq War. In 2007, Eaton appeared in a political ad for VoteVets.org, similar to the ones prepared by retired Army Major General John Batiste. Eaton asserted that President George W. Bush did not heed the advice given by his military commanders. Eaton appeared on Bill Maher's HBO talk show and spoke out strongly against those who launched the Iraq War. In 2008 Eaton served as an advisor to Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Following Clinton's concession of the Democratic primary, Eaton has made several appearances in support of Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign. In July 2016, Eaton appeared in a political campaign ad critical of Donald Trump, using the catchphrase "Too Dangerous for America."
Eaton's wife, P.J., is a former U.S. Army captain and a daughter of a United States Marine Corps colonel. She is now a licensed mental health counselor who primarily works with perpetrators of domestic violence. They were married in 1973. They have two sons and a daughter.
