General H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. is generally well regarded for his management of coalition forces during the Gulf War against Ba’athist Iraq combined with his (mostly) transparent and to-the-point treatment of the media. He not only led Operation Desert Storm to success, but restored public perception of the U.S. Military after the fiasco of the Vietnam War. However, he was also well known for having an extremely short temper, would regularly verbally abuse his subordinates, and was perceived as a prima donna. This is detrimental to a healthy command and staff, but one can argue that the aggression and decisiveness of Schwarzkopf was needed in a time where higher command had become slow and inept.
Does Stormin’ Norman deserve full credit for victory in the Gulf War? Was Desert Storm a success in spite of his leadership? Did the poor management and public perception of OIF and Afghanistan elevate him even further in the eyes of history? Do we need more generals like him or was he a prototype of bad things to come?
Last good general we’ve had. Every “officer” today is an MBA graduate with a lean six sigma certa and that doesn’t win wars.
Every commissioned officer has an engineering degree.
I wish. These numales are all black belts in DEI.
Not true. I know of one with a mathematics degree.
This is only true of officers that graduate from a military university.
I thought the meta for servicemembers was military history or business. I've heard "International relations" too for staff officers.
That's not true either.
t. Annapolis grad
my financial fiduciary was an Infantry Captain on his staff during Desert Storm and Shield. Said there was no finer officer that wore stars since. If he asked questions and found your answers lacking, it was a bad day.
Having a short temper and utilizing verbal abuse is necessary when your entire chain of command is comprised of incompetent morons.
He was a capable commander and decent person. Not as disconnected from reality as most other generals and avoided being a political animal like Powell. He definitely enjoyed the spotlight, but I got more Patton-like vibes than a MacArthur diva complex. As far as his aggression, there are many ways to win a battle and subordinates clashing with commanders when they have different ideas has been a constant since time immemorial. However, it seems to me that he may have been rougher to his direct reports than strictly necessary.
I found his book worth the read.
Great answer, thank you. I neglected to mention Powell but I do wonder how Schwarzkopf would’ve faired in the military-political sphere around post-9/11 actions compared to him.
Kek
>Argue My False Dichotomy
frick your own face or I'll frick it for you
Good general, but too fat.
obviously he did a good job.
that said, the iraqis were fricked no matter who they put in charge.
He was very based and no South Vietnamese paratrooper he trained and lead ever complained about him.
There's a lot of morons and frick ups in the military and its the job of a leader to straighten them out. He had a lot of experience with this in the Americal Division when he showed up late in the war and it was full of junkies, frick ups and psychotics and he managed to get them to reform and get out of the war alive.
Dude he's a legend
>Does Stormin’ Norman deserve full credit for victory in the Gulf War?
Yes. Because he made most important thing of the strategy. He properly estimated amount of forces needed for decisive win and had will to persuade politics to assemble such force.
He kinds overestimated Iraqis but it's better to overestimate your enemy and bring larger force than underestimate and lose. See Russian Gerasimov's General Staff fiasco of planning invasion into Ukraine.
>Does Stormin’ Norman deserve full credit for victory in the Gulf War? Was Desert Storm a success in spite of his leadership? Did the poor management and public perception of OIF and Afghanistan elevate him even further in the eyes of history? Do we need more generals like him or was he a prototype of bad things to come?
This homie expecting essays by end of class tomorrow