James Henry Binford "Binnie" Peay III (born May 10, 1940) is a retired four-star general of the United States Army. He served as the 14th superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute from 2003-2020, and as chairman of the Allied Defense Group from 2001-03. He has also served on various corporate and nonprofit boards. Early life Peay attained the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America in 1954 and as an adult is a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. His father, Peay Jr. and both of his sons, Jim and Ryan, are also Eagle Scouts. Peay graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering, where he was a quarterback on the football team and is an initiate of the Beta Commission of the Kappa Alpha Order; he was the first Kappa Alpha inducted into the Military Division when it was established in 2009. He also has a Master of Arts from George Washington University and graduated from the United States Army Command and General Staff College in June 1971 and the United States Army War College in June 1978. Military career Peay was commissioned as a second lieutenant of Field Artillery in 1962. His initial troop assignments were in Germany and Fort Carson, Colorado. From December 1964 to September 1966, he served as aide-de-camp to the Commanding General, 5th Infantry Division. He went on to serve in other assignments, including two tours in the Republic of Vietnam. In his first tour, from May 1967 to July 1968, he commanded both Headquarters Company, I Field Force, Vietnam, and a firing battery (Battery B, 4th Battalion, 42nd Field Artillery Regiment) with the 4th Infantry Division in the Central Highlands. During his second tour from August 1971 to June 1972, he served as the assistant operations officer for the 3d Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, and as operations officer for the same division's 1st Battalion, 21st Artillery Regiment. After serving with the Army Military Personnel Center in Washington, D.C., as a Field Artillery branch assignments officer, Peay was sent to Hawaii in 1975 to command the 2d Battalion, 11th Field Artillery Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. Following completion of the Army War College, he returned to Washington, D.C., as Senior Aide to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and later as Chief of the Army Initiatives Group in the Office