Athletes - Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.

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	Athletes - Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.

General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. (born August 22, 1934) is a retired United States Army general who, while he served as Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Central Command, was commander of the Coalition Forces in the Gulf War of 1991.

Born in Trenton, New Jersey to Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf, then the Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police (The elder Schwarzkopf, who was not fond of his first name, passed only the initial letter to his son.) He attended the International School of Geneva, attended and graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy. His aunt is the world famous soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

Formal Education

Gen. Schwarzkopf attended the United States Military Academy, where he graduated 42nd in his class in 1956 with a Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering. While at West Point, he played on the football team, wrestled, sang, and conducted the chapel choir. He also attended the University of Southern California, where he earned 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 & Mechanical Engineering.

Military career

After graduating from West Point and receiving a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the infantry, his first assignment was as a platoon leader and executive officer 2nd Airborne Battle Group at Fort Benning Georgia. Here he received advanced infantry and airborne training. Next came stints with the 101st Airborne Division in Kentucky and the 6th Infantry Division in West Germany. He was aide-de-camp to the Berlin Command in 1960 and 1961, a crucial time in the history of that divided city.

By 1965 he was back at West Point, teaching engineering. 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, Norman Schwarzkopf applied to join them. Schwarzkopf served as a task force advisor to a South Vietnamese Airborne Division, Schwarzkopf 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 Holsinger and attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. As U.S. casualties in Vietnam mounted, Gen. Schwarzkopf became convinced it was his duty to apply his training and experience there, where they might save the most lives. In 1969, Colonel Schwarzkopf returned to Vietnam, first on the staff of Major General Mabry (awarded the Medal of Honor in WWII), and then as a battalion commander (1st Battalion, 6th Infantry, 198th Infantry Brigade) in the Americal Division under Col. Joseph Clemons (his brigade commander, who was the hero of Pork Chop Hill, immortalized in the book by that name written by Brig. Gen. S.L.A. 'Slam' Marshall).

One of the most remarkable incidents in a very distinguished career happened on this tour. When Schwarzkopf received word that men under his command had encountered a minefield, 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 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 the leg off of Schwarzkopf's artillery liaison officer. Eventually, Gen. Schwarzkopf led his surviving men to safety, by ordering the locations of mines marked with shaving cream. He was awarded his third Silver Star for his bravery but, more importantly to Norman 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."

During the 70's, Schwarzkopf's star continued to rise. He attended the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, served on the Army General Staff at The Pentagon, was deputy commander of U.S. Forces Alaska under Willard Latham, and served as a brigade commander at Fort Lewis, Washington.

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