One of our nation's great military leaders has died...

General H. Norman Schwarzkopf.  He was 78 years old.

Most people know the basics about his life.  His father was an Army general and also the lead investigator trying to solve the kidnapping of Charles Lindberg's baby.  He went to West Point, graduated 43rd in his class and became an infantry officer.  He had a spectacular military career leading up to his promotion to Major General when he was given command of a mechanized division (commanding a division is the highest job a 2 star general can have in the Army).  It was while he was commander of the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, GA that he rose to prominence.  When the plan to invade Grenada to rescue the Americans there was drawn up, because it was an amphibious operation, an Admiral was put in overall command.  The Army insisted on sending Gen. Schwarzkopf along to be the Admiral's Army advisor.  He made several key suggestions on how to best use the Army forces on the mission and the Admiral in command quickly realized what an asset he was.  That resulted in his being named Deputy Commander of the Task Force.  The mission was a complete success.

Everyone knows that he was the commander of all U.S. and Allied forces during the First Iraq war.  Most know that he wrote an autobiography and retired after that war ended.  That he endorsed George Bush Jr. in the 2004 election.  But there are a lot of things people don't know about him.

He loved mint chocolate chip ice cream.  He crawled across a minefield in Vietnam to rescue one of the soldiers under his command.  He was able to save this man by thinking quickly and having engineers use shaving cream to mark the location of the mines.  He had a real temper and often got into shouting matches with General Colin Powell during the First Iraq war.  He once had one of his aides stand in a long line to use a men's room and then cut into the line when the aide reached the front.  He was deeply affected by the Ken Burns documentary on the Civil War, which he watched during the buildup of U.S. forces prior to the First Gulf War. 

He was a giant of a man and a giant of a leader.  He probably had more to do with the successful defense of Saudi Arabia and the liberation of Kuwait than any other single person.  His autobiography was entitled "It Doesn't Take a Hero", but General H. Norman Schwarzkopf was indeed a hero.  RIP General.

P.S.  The H stood for nothing.  His father had it added to his birth certificate just before he entered West Point.  It's a fascinating story.