Very large man/general with a phobia about arms. In fact, he demanded any and all around him with weapons, stand so the barrels were 180° degrees opposite of him in a room. The same if he was passing by.
He loved football, even from his CENTCOM HQ office in Baghdad.
He was either not a conservative, or hid it very very well. In other words, not a conservative.
However, I preferred him to several other generals, including Petraeus, but especially over Austin. Gen Austin was left of most other generals, and outwardly more politically leftist than others. There were incidents where Austin went directly against moral and decisive analysis.
So “apparently” it was cancer which took Gen Odiero out at 67?
Hmmm...
Or how about *Odierno*.
In a room? Even if a gun pointed 180° away from you accidentally fires, the bullet can still hit you if it ricochets. That was quite a phobia, or paranoia.
Retired US Army friend called Austin a bully and a thug.
“In fact, he demanded any and all around him with weapons, stand so the barrels were 180° degrees opposite of him in a room. The same if he was passing by.”
Not a bad policy. I have had more than a few experiences with Iraq vets having some VERY loose weapon handling and dangerous muzzle awareness at the range and in a gun store.
When someone corrects them you get some variation of “I know what I’m doing”, or that moronic scene from Blackhawk Down where the actor playing a Delta guy says his finger is his safety.
Everyone though that was so cool.
Haven’t heard to much about Odierno that indicated high skill levels, but he is right to tell people not to cover him with a muzzle.
I worked with the General when I was in Iraq working for USCENTCOM in early 2004.
He was very very low key about his political views. Remember, at the time, politics were as hot-topic then as they are now and that was also an election year. He saw it as a destabilizing factor within his command and did his best to ensure no one knew.
As for the weapons thing - there were so many accidental discharges in 2003-2004 that nearly took people out - he was far from the only person who did this. There was a rash of accidental discharges, especially in late 2003/early 2004 that had everyone on edge.