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.
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Sorry he is gone. It was my take that he was a great guy.
My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends, and associates.
/johnny
One anecdote about him reminded me of a top, winning football coach.
His subordinates knew that he demanded top intellectual performance from them and he had zero tolerance for slacking off. But they also knew that if they did well in his team, their future was assured.
However, he was believed to have an IQ of 160-170, and a superb memory, and would frequently quiz his subordinates to make sure they were on the ball. So they had to spend their free time hitting the books.
One story of this was when he called a general into his office for such a snap quiz. “How many Iraqi generals are defending the southern border of Iraq?”
“42, sir,” the general replied, pleased that it was such an easy question.
“And what are their names?”, said General Schwarzkopf.
remember just before the election that Obama fired nearly all the top brass in the military, Robert Bork dies, now Norman Schwarzkopf dies... H W Bush is in the hospital, bills in congress to take our firearms.
scary times.
I’m hunkering down every further.
RIP General you shall be sorely missed by the American people but also those who are closed to you like your family and friends. General as a man of faith, I know you have joined God’s Angelic Army, and I like to believe that you beside all the military and law enforcement who died in Christ shall return with HIM and his angels to battle the last battle ever (psss we win). We shall miss a great Patriot like you - God Bless.
RIP, Sir!
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the Gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the mornings hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight,
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.
Thank you General!
Wow. Didn’t even know he was sick. Stuck on deployment in the jungles of Honduras, I admonished you to be sure you studied up on your Patton.
You did. And you read up on some Rommel, too.
Thank you, General. Godspeed, to the final objective.
He was an AMAZING man, that idiot Colon Bowl got nearly all the credit that Schwarzkopf rightfully had earned.
Salute to you, Sir. I used to race to my car during Desert Storm, just to be able to hear his 3:00 briefings. We have truly lost one of the finest leaders we have ever known.
He went to Valley Forge Military Academy, not far from me.
Hero period.
“And there goes the luckiest truck driver in all of Iraq”.
RIP General.
I would not bet against you.
RIP General S.
Always wanted him for potus against clinton
R.I.P Sir
RIP, General. This country will never see the likes of you again. He was a great hero and patriot.
Very funny story!
RIP to a hero.
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