True Leaders: Remembering General Schwarzkopf

  • Published
  • By Col. Nancy Brooks
  • 349th Mission Support Group
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  "It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle."  - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf.

Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, 78, died Dec. 27, 2012, in Tampa, Fla.

Throughout the last weeks of December, the horrific school shootings in Newtown, Conn., justifiably dominated every news outlet. The general's passing seemed a mere blip on the news radar. It is only right to take time to pay homage to one of America's heroes and remember some of his lessons on leadership.

Schwarzkopf was known and lionized for his role in the crushing defeat of Iraq in 1991, during Operation Desert Storm. This victory over tyranny was the culmination of a distinguished career that transformed Lieutenant Schwarzkopf into General "Stormin' Norman" Schwarzkopf, commander of the Allied Forces in the Gulf War.

From a young boy to a seasoned commander, Schwarzkopf tucked away important lessons he applied during his lifetime. Gleaned from his autobiography, "It Doesn't Take a Hero," are some of those learned from parents, teachers and soldiers.

The general's father was a 1917 West Point, N.Y., graduate, head of the New Jersey State Police and a National Guard officer appointed advisor to the Imperial Iranian Gendarmerie.

When he was a boy, Schwarzkopf's father would show him his West Point graduation saber and share how his school motto, "duty, honor, country," had become his creed. Soon enough, "duty, honor, country" also became young Schwarzkopf's guiding personal philosophy. Those words served Schwarzkopf well as he pursued his destiny to become a military leader.

Schwarzkopf's mother had served as assistant superintendent of nurses at Trenton, N.J.'s largest hospital. Long before the civil rights movement, Ruth Schwarzkopf espoused tolerance. After Schwarzkopf gave up his seat on the bus to a black woman and was laughed at by elementary classmates, his mother told him, "You have to understand that you're one of the luckiest people in the world. You were born white, you were born Protestant and you were born American. That means you'll be spared prejudices that a lot of other people have had to put up with. But always remember: You had nothing to do with the fact that you were born that way. It gives you no right to look down on anybody who wasn't."

Schwarzkopf described how West Point taught him "duty, honor, country" was more than a motto. He felt liberated when he realized he could live his life by those words and rely on those values to make deliberate decisions. He wrote, "The Army, with its emphasis on rank and medals and efficiency reports, is the easiest institution in the world in which to get consumed with ambition. Some officers spend all their time currying favor and worrying about the next promotion a miserable way to live. But West Point saved me from that by instilling the ideal of service before self to do my duty for my country regardless of what personal gain it brought and even if it brought no gain at all."

After graduating West Point, Lieutenant Schwarzkopf was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky. Most of the soldiers were draftees and he remembers the company had everything from suburban college kids to farm boys to inner-city dropouts. Schwarzkopf learned there wasn't a single way to command the respect of such varied individuals. Each person had to be approached in a way they could understand.

By the time Schwarzkopf was 25 years old, he had developed a personal set of values that would see him through two tours in Vietnam, the Cold War, Grenada and Operation Desert Storm. Duty, honor, country, tolerance and respect for the individual show up again and again as he narrates his life story.

As he advanced in his career, Schwarzkopf matured from student to teacher. During his farewell remarks to departing troops Mar. 8, 1991, in Saudi Arabia, Schwarzkopf reminded his soldiers to remember those who helped fight the war when they told their victory stories. He emphasized the lessons of teamwork and gratitude. He listed the contributions of the Air Force, Navy, British, Egyptians, Saudi Arabians, Kuwaitis, Omanis and French Foreign Legion.

"We all did it together, we all paid the price, we all shared in the victory," he said.