RIP Storming Norman

[Cdnwolf]

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. official says retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who commanded the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991, has died. He was 78.

The official tells The Associated Press that Schwarzkopf died Thursday in Tampa, Fla. The official wasn't authorized to release the information publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Just saw this on CNN. What a shame.

[natehale1971]

When I met GEN 'Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf in 1990, he had studied me intently and when he saw my name tag he nodded and asked me if my father had been in the Army...

When I told him my father's name and that he had served in Vietnam in the army, his smile grew really big and he nodded and told me to tell my father that he said "Hi" and that he should be very proud of me... And told me that if I ever wanted to cross-deck out of the navy into the army, to let him know. And he'd do what he could to help me... something I look back on and at times wish i had done.

When I got home from Desert Storm, I got home and told dad what the General said... and his eyes got big and round. And he started to laugh.

And then told me how he had been given a ride back to base from a Lieutenant who could have gotten in trouble for 'fraternizing' with an enlisted man. And that the two had talked about family on the way back to their base. When they got close, they stopped and my dad hopped off the jeep and waited ten minutes before he started walking back to the base.

A week later, he showed up and gave my father two gifts... one for dad and one for me. A pitchers and catchers mit. He told dad that the gifts would be something that would bring the two of us together. And before he died, my dad said that he really wished he had taken that advice... and not been so distant with me as i was growing up.

I still have those baseball mits, in fact my mom keeps them there with her until I can see my sons again.

The General was a great man who hammered home in the officers under his command that the soldiers under them deserved respect, because it would be on their shoulders that the heaviest weight of any war would fall.

We need more officers like him. Who are loyal to their men and the citizens of their country, who have no political ambitions. Who just want to serve their nation and it's people. And who understands that it's the soldiers who bear the heaviest weight of any conflict. And that they deserve the same level of respect from their commanders that they give to those officers.

Tonight, I know that the General and my Father will be sitting on the bank of the River of Life looking down and watching over my sons. keeping them safe. I greive with his family... for a truly great man has passed in a time our nation and world need them the most.

I guess this means that we that are left behind, have to step up and be just as good and act as inspirations for the generations behind us. To show them an example that is just as great as the one this professional warrior has done for us. That real strength comes when you stand up to the bullies, protecting & defending those who cannot (or will not) protect and defend themsleves.