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President Barack Obama is nominating Chuck Hagel, a former U.S. senator from Nebraska, to succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Hagel served in the military during the Vietnam War, leading him later to tell a biographer, "I will do all I can to prevent war." After coming home from Vietnam, Hagel worked briefly as a newscaster, then had a career in business, before entering public service as a Republican senator for 12 years. Here's a look at his military and government career: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/File
Hagel, pictured in uniform in 1968, volunteered for the U.S. Army, serving a yearlong tour. Library of Congress
Hagel, right, perched on top of a M113 armored personnel carrier in 1968. Library of Congress
Hagel was a Republican senator from Nebraska from 1997 to 2009. Here, he testifies before the Senate Commerce Committee during a September 2000 hearing on the marketing of violence to children. Alex Wong/Newsmakers/Getty Images/File
Hagel discusses the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill with then-Sen. Russ Feingold on NBC's ''Meet the Press'' in March 2001. Alex Wong/Newsmakers/Getty Images/File
Joe Biden, left, then a U.S. senator from Delaware, walks with Sen. Richard Lugar, second from right, and Hagel, center, at a hotel in Baghdad in June 2003. The congressional delegation was on a tour of the Iraqi capital the year the Iraq War began. MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP/Getty Images/File
Hagel chats with Alan Greenspan, then-Federal Reserve chairman, before the start of a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in April 2005. Mark Wilson/Getty Images/File
Hagel questions then-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her February 2006 testimony on Iran before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Joshua Roberts/Getty Images/File
Hagel comments on a New York Times article during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee's consideration of a resolution on the Iraq War in January 2007. The GOP senator opposed the troop surge in Iraq. Alex Wong/Getty Images/File
Hagel holds a September 2007 news conference to reintroduce an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill. Win McNamee/Getty Images/File
Gen. David Petraeus, center, flies with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama and Hagel on a July 2008 tour in Baghdad. Hagel joined Obama that year on his tour of parts of the Middle East. Lorie Jewell/Multi-National Forces Iraq Public Affairs/Getty Images/File
Candidate Obama and Hagel tour Jordan's historic Amman Citadel in July 2008. PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images/File
Hagel presents former President Bill Clinton with the Atlantic Council's Distinguished International Leadership Award in Washington in April 2010. LESLIE E. KOSSOFF/AFP/Getty Images/File
Hagel, from left, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta attend a Memorial Day event at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington in May 2012. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/File