Posted on 12/27/2012 4:31:56 PM PST by Wisconsinlady
Edited on 12/28/2012 4:45:17 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
WASHINGTON – Truth is, retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf didn't care much for his popular "Stormin' Norman" nickname.
The seemingly no-nonsense Desert Storm commander's reputed temper with aides and subordinates supposedly earned him that rough-and-ready moniker. But others around the general, who died Thursday in Tampa, Fla., at age 78 from complications from pneumonia, knew him as a friendly, talkative and even jovial figure who preferred the somewhat milder sobriquet given by his troops: "The Bear."
That one perhaps suited him better later in his life, when he supported various national causes and children's charities while eschewing the spotlight and resisting efforts to draft him to run for political office.
He lived out a quiet retirement in Tampa, where he'd served his last military assignment and where an elementary school bearing his name is testament to his standing in the community.
Schwarzkopf capped an illustrious military career by commanding the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991 -- but he'd managed to keep a low profile in the public debate over the second Gulf War against Iraq, saying at one point that he doubted victory would be as easy as the White House and the Pentagon predicted.
Schwarzkopf was named commander in chief of U.S. Central Command at Tampa's MacDill Air Force Base in 1988, overseeing the headquarters for U.S. military and security concerns in nearly two dozen countries stretching across the Middle East to Afghanistan and the rest of central Asia, plus Pakistan.
[excerpt]
“... I think just about everyone did....”
The enemy surely didn’t.
RIP General. You’ve earned it.
Sadly, yes. (I hate this autocorrect Samsung crap).
One of the Few the Proud And the Brave!
West Point can shell em out, but not many have the guts to get the job done!
We are at War, now but It is a silent war! Bring to the forefront and get some real guts in the game!
Done in 30 days!!
Maybe BHO will deliver a eulogy.
If so, it will be more about BHO than about the general.
RIP.
He made US proud during the first Gulf War.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmrosP6wGfU
Here’s a video of a visit to West Point by Schwarzkopf. Some interesting items in it. I liked the speech to the Cadets starting at 6:38 where he talks about Duty, Honor, and Love of Country will make them great leaders. But perhaps more so when he says something like “those you will be leading are the true thunder and lightning.”
I had the same thought, but you had the right words. Godspeed General Schwarzkopf.
Lord Jesus, rest Thy servant soldier with the saints.
In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, amen.
His dad was retired Army,too. Then head of the NJ State Police and lead on the Lindberg baby kidnapping.
Quite a lineage of greatness.
Never met him, but saw him during GWI.Always liked him.
Rest in Peace, General Shwartzkopf.
You were a great man, one whom humanity will miss.
RIP to a great American. The world is a better place because of this great man. The words of another great general come to mind.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.”
~ General George S. Patton
RIP General. Thank you for your service.
What a great American.
RIP Stormin Norman.
I think God does that on purpose. Gives the decent and good FEWER chances to blow it, and gives the evil and bad MORE chances to get it right.
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