Maybe there is something to that thing about midwinter being a low energy time of year with more deaths than any other time of the year.
Retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who topped an illustrious military career by commanding the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991 but kept a low public profile in controversies over the second Gulf War against Iraq, died Thursday. He was 78.
I just saw that. In 1991 I was still in school. We didn't have internet or cable TV. I don't think I even got the newspaper. Basically, we didn't know about the build-up between Iraq and its neighbors.
The day all hell broke loose, I cut through the student center while on my way to the radio station--that route made for an air conditioned shortcut. Plus maybe I'd run into a friend on the way.
I saw a bunch of people crowded around a TV so I figured I'd see what was up. That was the very moment the first missiles landed. Things quickly got very emotional.
The show I was supposed to co-host that day was obviously cancelled--I guess I just assumed it was, as there was no way for them to contact me--but I did my usual midnight to 3am stint that night. The news crew was on the other side of the glass from me. When they gave the signal, I was to pot down the song and put them on the air. We were kids, but I remember them taking their assignment very seriously. At that moment, we really were the only 24/7 news source. Cable? That cost money.
The updates came via the AP wire--a satellite dish hooked to a dot matrix printer. How things have changed.
I was unemployed, so I got to watch as much as I liked. Sad to see him gone.
I remember my math teacher walking into the room, visibly shaken, and saying, "I think we're going to war".
David S. Wallens wrote: I just saw that. In 1991 I was still in school.
In early 1991 was expecting to spend some time in a hot sandbox. Only some of my expectations came true. I was 2 days from getting on a plane when the President announced he was not sending any more troops to Iraq. I am pretty satisfied with that decision point...(not a canoe, just a reference).
Late 1990 I was in Saudia Arabia. Got to see Bob Hopes Xmas show there. Early 1991 I was in the middle of the Iraqi desert someplace with the 101st. Was a Tech Inspector on CH-47 Chinook Helicopters and was on the Downed Aircraft Recovery Team flying around picking up crashed helicopters.
I remember him using the term "Bovine Scatology". Brilliant.
Never got to see him take on Holyfield.
my dad got orders to goto Panama 5 days before Noriega escalated his shenanigans... but he had to spend 6 weeks in training in Denver so by the time he got to Panama it had all blown over... his old squadron at Langley (94th fighter) was the first to get shipped to the sand box... so he managed to miss one war zone by being sent to another... in his 6 years of his job in Panama he never was sent to the sand box for a TDY (something that every other person in his position had done at some point over the years.) but we did have a few other family members that ended up over that way (army reserve)
USAF 1987-93 and during that time I never heard anything bad said about Gen. Schwarzkopf. Maybe I wasn't listening but it seemed he was the right man for the job. Between him and Gen. Powell I think they turned what could have been a complete disaster into a success (for our side).
At that time there was a lot that hadn't and still hasn't gone public. You learn a little more than you're supposed to when you're trained by two Vietnam veterans and one very interesting Desert Storm veteran. Otherwise, I was in grade school at the time of that.
I respected the man. Reinforced by his decision to stay out of politics. He was heavily courted by both parties, but stayed out of it. Colin Powell did about the same thing after his time was up. A big loss for all of us that he has passed.
more honorable pics at:
http://www.guns.com/2012/12/28/retired-gen-norman-schwarzkopf/
sad day, I lost my good friend yesterday too.
http://www.heathandvaughn.com/anderson,_david.html
he surved 8 years in te air force, much of that time in Iraq.
cwh wrote: I respected the man. Reinforced by his decision to stay out of politics. He was heavily courted by both parties, but stayed out of it. Colin Powell did about the same thing after his time was up. A big loss for all of us that he has passed.
I put him on the same level as Powell too, and for the same reasons. I don't always agree with Powell's politics but I do respect his 'no BS' attitude.
Sad loss indeed. Def could use some more like him. All these people talking about not wanting to get shipped over, I'm begging to go on a deployment, begging and doing everything possible to go with no luck...
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