Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| H. Norman Schwarzkopf | |
|---|---|
| Born August 22, 1934 | |
 |
|
| Nickname | Stormin' Norman |
| Place of birth | Trenton, New Jersey |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1956 - 1991 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands held | 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry, 198th Infantry Brigade 1st Brigade, 9th Infantry Division 24th Mechanized Infantry Division I Corps U.S. Central Command |
| Battles/wars | Vietnam War Operation Urgent Fury Operation Desert Storm |
| Awards | Defense Distinguished Service Medal Army Distinguished Service Medal Silver Star (3) Defense Superior Service Medal Legion of Merit Distinguished Flying Cross Bronze Star (3) with Combat V Purple Heart (2) |
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, also known as "Stormin' Norman" (b. August 22, 1934) is a retired United States Army 4 Star General who, while he served as Commander-in-Chief (now known as "Combatant Commander") of U.S. Central Command, was commander of the Coalition Forces in the Gulf War of 1991. Schwarzkopf was born in Trenton, New Jersey (but resided in Lawrenceville, New Jersey) to Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf, then the Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. His connection with the Persian Gulf region began very early on. In 1946, when he was 12, he and the rest of his family joined their father, stationed in Tehran, Iran, where his father would go on to be instrumental in Operation Ajax. He attended the Community High School in Tehran, later the International School of Geneva, and attended and graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy. He is also a member of Mensa.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Formal education
After attending Valley Forge Military Academy, Schwarzkopf, an army brat, attended the United States Military Academy, where he graduated 43rd in his class in 1956 with a Bachelor of Science Degree. He also attended the University of Southern California, where he received a Master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1964. His special field of study was guided missile engineering, a program that USC developed with the Army, which incorporated equally both aeronautical and mechanical engineering.
[edit] Military career
Upon graduating from West Point he was gazetted an infantry Second Lieutenant. He received advanced infantry and airborne training at Fort Benning, Georgia after graduating from West Point. He was a platoon leader and served as executive officer of the 2nd Airborne Battle Group, 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Next he was aide-de-camp to the Berlin Brigade in 1960 and 1961, a crucial time in the history of that divided city (the Berlin Wall was erected by East German and Soviet forces only a week after he left). In 1965, after completing his masters degree at USC, Schwarzkopf served at West Point as an instructor in the mechanical engineering department.
[edit] Service in Vietnam
More and more of his former classmates were heading to Vietnam as advisors to the South Vietnamese army and, in 1965, following Schwarzkopf's first year as a member of the faculty at West Point, he applied to join them. Schwarzkopf served as a task force advisor to a South Vietnamese Airborne Division, during that time, he was promoted from Captain to Major. When his tour of duty in Vietnam was over, he returned to serve out the remaining two years of his obligated teaching service at West Point.
In 1968, Major Schwarzkopf became a Lieutenant Colonel. In this same year, he married Brenda Hosinger.
One of the most remarkable incidents in a very distinguished career happened on his second tour in Vietnam in March 1970. When Schwarzkopf received word that men under his command had encountered a minefield on the notorious Batangan Peninsula, he rushed to the scene in his helicopter, as was his custom while a battalion commander, in order to make his helicopter available. He found several soldiers still trapped in the minefield. Schwarzkopf urged them to retrace their steps slowly. Still, one man tripped a mine and was severely injured but remained conscious. As the wounded man flailed in agony, the soldiers around him feared that he would set off another mine. Schwarzkopf, also injured by the explosion, crawled across the minefield to the wounded man and held him down (he was a wrestler at West Point, so he used a "pinning" technique in the process), so another could splint his shattered leg. One soldier stepped away to break a branch from a nearby tree to make the splint. In doing so, he too hit a mine, killing himself and the two men closest to him, and blowing an arm and a leg off Schwarzkopf's artillery liaison officer.
Eventually, Schwarzkopf led his surviving men to safety, by ordering the division engineers to mark the locations of the mines with shaving cream. (Some of the mines were of French manufacture and dated back to the Indochina conflict of the 1950s; others were brought by Japanese forces in World War II). Schwarzkopf was awarded his third Silver Star for his bravery but, more importantly to Schwarzkopf, he firmly cemented his reputation as an officer who would risk his life for the soldiers under his command. Schwarzkopf was always known as a tough but caring officer. He told his men that they might not like some of his strict rules, but it was for their own good. He told them "When you get on that plane to go home, if the last thing you think about me is 'I hate that son of a bitch', then that is fine because you're going home alive." Lt. General Hal Moore later wrote that it was during his time in Vietnam that Schwarzkopf acquired what would later become his infamous temper, while arguing via radio for passing American Hueys to land and pick up his wounded men.[2]
[edit] Rise to General
During the 70s, Schwarzkopf's star continued to rise. He attended the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania (delayed for a year so that he could undergo back surgery for a congenital back condition that was aggravated by his combat services), served on the Army General Staff at The Pentagon, was deputy commander of U.S. Forces Alaska under Brigadier General Willard Latham, and served as a brigade commander at Fort Lewis, Washington.
After promotion to Brigadier General, he was assigned as Plans & Policy Officer (Assistant J3) at U.S. Pacific Command for two years. He then served as Assistant Division Commander (Support) of the 8th Mechanized Division and as Community Commander of Mainz, West Germany, during which the city was visited by Pope John Paul II, thus putting Schwarzkopf in charge of the U.S. security forces during the pontiff's visit.
He was promoted to Major General, and given command of the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division, at Fort Stewart, Georgia. A year into this assignment, a coup had taken place on the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada. With Cuban assistance, the Grenadian revolutionaries were building an airfield which U.S. intelligence suspected would be used to supply insurgents in Central America. It was also feared that Americans studying on the island might be taken hostage. Since an amphibious landing was called for, the entire operation was placed under the command of an admiral. Schwarzkopf was sent by the Army as an advisor to the Navy to make sure the Army units attached to the task force were used correctly. He quickly won the confidence of his superior and was named Deputy Commander of the Joint Task Force. While the Grenada operation proved more difficult than its planners had anticipated, the coup was quickly thwarted. Order was restored, elections were scheduled, and the American students returned home unharmed.
In 1985, Schwarzkopf returned to the Pentagon to serve as an assistant to Lieutenant General Carl Vuono (who was then Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations). In 1986, Schwarzkopf was promoted to Lieutenant General, and was appointed as Commanding General of I Corps at Ft. Lewis. After only serving one year in command, he was called back to Washington to serve as Vuono's assistant (Vuono himself was promoted to General of the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, only later to become Army Chief of Staff), this time in operations Deputy Chief position.
[edit] The Gulf War
In 1988, he was promoted to General and was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Central Command. The U.S. Central Command, based at MacDill Air Force Base, near Tampa, Florida, is responsible for operations in the Horn of Africa, the Middle East and South Asia (Operations for the Horn of Africa will fall under the new Africa Command by fall 2008).[3] In his capacity as commander, Schwarzkopf prepared a detailed plan for the defense of the oil fields of the Persian Gulf against a hypothetical invasion by Iraq, among other plans. The Iraq plan served as the basis of the USCENTCOM wargame of 1990. Within the same month, Iraq invaded Kuwait, and Schwarzkopf's plan had an immediate practical application, which was as the basis for Operation Desert Shield, the defense of Saudi Arabia. A few months later, his offensive operational plan, called Operation Desert Storm (co-authored with his deputy commander, Lieutenant General Cal Waller and others on his staff), was the "left hook" strategy that went into Iraq behind the Iraqi forces occupying Kuwait and was widely credited with bringing the ground war to a close in just four days. He was personally very visible in the conduct of the war, giving frequent press conferences, and was dubbed "Stormin' Norman." After the war, Schwarzkopf was bestowed an honorary corporal in the French Foreign Legion, the first and only American to be so honored.
[edit] Retirement
Schwarzkopf retired from active service in August 1991, and shortly thereafter wrote an autobiography, It Doesn't Take a Hero, published in 1992. There was some speculation in the aftermath of the Gulf War that he might run for political office, but he did not do so. In retirement, Schwarzkopf has served as a military analyst, most recently for Operation Iraqi Freedom, along with promoting prostate cancer awareness, a disease with which he was diagnosed in 1993, and for which he was successfully treated. Recently, Schwarzkopf has donated most of his time to multiple charities, and community activities. He sits on the board for Remington, and several other high-profile corporations. On May 4, 2008 Schwarzkopf was inducted into New Jersey's Hall of Fame. He is also an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. Schwarzkopf currently lives in Florida.
[edit] U.S. decorations and badges
  |
Distinguished Service Medal (Army) (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters) |
 |
Silver Star (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters) |
 |
Defense Superior Service Medal |
 |
Legion of Merit |
 |
Distinguished Flying Cross |
  |
Bronze Star with "V" Device (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters) |
 |
Purple Heart (with Oak Leaf Cluster) |
 |
Meritorious Service Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters) |
 |
Air Medals (9 strike/flight awards) |
 |
Army Commendation Medal with "V" Device (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters) |
 |
National Defense Service Medal (with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster) |
 |
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal |
 |
Army of Occupation Medal |
- Combat Infantryman Badge
- Master Parachutist Badge
- Army Staff Identification Badge
- Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge
- Office of the Secretary of Defense Identification Badge
- U.S. non-military and foreign military awards
- Presidential Medal of Freedom
- Congressional Gold Medal
- United States Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom
- Republic of Vietnam Master Parachutist Badge
- Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm with two Palms and Star
- Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces Honor Medal
- Knight Commander in the Military Division of Most Honourable Order of the Bath (honorary).
- Légion d'honneur (France)
- Distinguished German-American of the Year 2006
General Schwarzkopf also has an elementary school named after him in Lutz, Florida. He was made an Honorary member of the French Foreign Legion.
[edit] Quotes
- "True courage is being afraid, and going ahead and doing your job."[citation needed]
- "When placed in command -- take charge."[citation needed]
- "The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it."[citation needed]
- "Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy."[citation needed]
- "Any soldier worth his salt should be anti-war. And yet there are things still worth fighting for."[citation needed]
- "Do what is right, not what you think the high headquarters wants or what you think will make you look good."[citation needed]
- "To show you what a difference retirement makes. Last year when I gave an order, 541,000 men and women jumped," he explained. "Now I can't even get the plumber to come over."[citation needed]
- "As far as Saddam Hussein being a great military strategist, he is neither a strategist, nor is he schooled in the operational arts, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general, nor is he a soldier. Other than that he's a great military man I want you to know that."[citation needed]
- "It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle"
[edit] Notes
- ^ Extravaganza Productions public speaking profile of Norman Schwarzkopf. [1]
- ^ Moore p. 17
- ^ U.S. Creating New Africa Command To Coordinate Military Efforts. usinfo.state.gov — Currentissues (6 February 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-10. “Currently, the U.S. Central Command coordinates military efforts in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa and Central Asia”
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Moore, Harold G. We were soldiers once ...and young, 2002 ISBN 0-552-15026-6
- Schwarzkopf, Norman Jr. (1993-09-01). It Doesn't Take a Hero : The Autobiography of General H. Norman Schwarzkopf. Bantam Books, 640 pp. ISBN 978-0553563382.
| Preceded by George B. Crist |
Commander-in-Chief of United States Central Command 1988 – 1991 |
Succeeded by Joseph P. Hoar |
