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A good man is gone. I met him while serving in the Marines in Desert Storm/Desert Shield in 1990. Larger than life, no nonsense guy. Read his autobiography. Truly amazing guy.

If it's not broken, fix it until it is

I still think he could have beat Holyfield. [^]

I would have been more impressed if he had defeated an army that was even somewhat impressive.

I agree. I was there in 90-91, and the Iraqi army was nothing. All the hype about them being the world's 4th largest army was propaganda. Their equipment was mostly WWII leftover stuff.

I was on the Port of Jubail in Saudi, and we had captured thousands of Iraqi vehicles, including anti-aircraft guns. Stuff like this[^]. You're not going to shoot down a jet doing 700mph with a hand cranked gun.

They did have a million men, but they were mostly conscripts, and were poorly trained and equipped. When I read Schwarzkopf's bio he talked about the war and he mentioned that the US killed 60K Iraqis with B52 bombing raids alone. And the Iraqi leadership had no knowledge of it because they were blind & deaf from the outset. It wasn't until after the war until they realized the magnitude of their defeat.

Having said that, Schwarzkopf was still a great leader and a true patriot.

If it's not broken, fix it until it is

I can not disagree with being a leader (hard for me to say he was great) and a patriot. One of the greatest generals of all time, there is no way that is a valid claim since he was not given a chance to really prove his skill.

If you study history you will discover that third world countries pretty much never can compete with the super power armies, even if the super power is not trying. When the British were in India, the Indian armies would suffer thousands of fatalities while the smaller British army would suffer very few, and they were mostly Indian allies. The British probably killed more of thier own men whipping them then they lost in combat.

When all hell broke loose liberating ~~oil~~ Kuwait I remember there was no other story shown on the news in SA. Anyone who didn't know CNN did soon enough. He wasn't the only bloke I knew by that name. Not long after the original came to be widely known the stock controller at the company I worked at whose name was Norman soon came to be known as Storeman Norman. There the similarity ended.

I've not read much about Stormin' Normin but the BBC said he got that name because of his explosive temper. I'm not sure how that translates into military-speak but someone suffering from "emotional detonation" in authority could well be known as an extreme bully elsewhere. I'm sure he had his good points and initiating the process by which Saddam was ultimately executed can't be a bad thing.

In time, I'll probably look for a book about him at my library.

They also say he was an outstanding commander and tactician and one of the old school. At 78, he was kind of young. RIP all the same. Rose | [Rose]

"I do not have to forgive my enemies, I have had them all shot." — Ramón Maria Narváez (1800-68).
"I don't need to shoot my enemies, I don't have any." - Me (2012).

I liked some of his video briefings.

The one(s) I remember best was when he showed the building with his opposite member as the guided bomb was put down the airshaft (eat you heart out Luke Skywalker).

Followed by, "I will now show you the luckiest man alive." as the video showed the guided bomb on it way to the middle of a bridge. Suddenly a truck zips through the crosshairs. A few seconds later, "And he sees in his rear view mirror..." the bomb impacts.

Psychosis at 10
Film at 11

Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it.
Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.

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