Blackhead never squeezed

I couldn’t resist the pun, but four-star General ‘Stormin’ Norman Schwarzkopf was one of those figures whose death I feel more than someone I know only in passing at their passing, like Lord Rees-Mogg.  Gerry Anderson, creator of Thunderbirds and much else besides, falls into the former category of myself being shocked and saddened, though he was 83 and was suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, so his end was probably a blessing to him. 

While there will be plenty of people who will not mourn when George H.W. Bush kicks the bucket (though as his son’s presidency unfurled, his record in office looked ever better) but he had a moving eulogy for his former commander on the ground - delivered from his bedside by his aides - showing class from the president in charge during Gulf War One, even as he battles his own illnesses.  Barack Obama probably had the most encapsulating soundbite for ‘Stormin’ Norman’ of a “true American original.”

Aged just 78 (the average age for the American male but still), Schwarzkopf restored the USA’s faith in their military after the trauma of Vietnam, that operations in Grenada and Panama did not.  It was a classic military campaign at a time, with the end of the Cold War, when such inter-state wars were becoming infrequent.  Defeating the million-strong Iraqi army and liberating Kuwait in 100 hours of ground warfare (although preceded by lengthy aerial bombardment) guaranteed its inclusion in the study manuals at West Point, despite dubious relevance in how to tackle more ‘bitty’ conflicts, as Somalia a few years later showed. 

Schwarzkopf’s lasting legacy was in rehabilitating the army.  In Vietnam, it was vilified and returning veterans disowned.  After Gulf War One, whenever military failures occurred it was the fault of the politicians as in Somalia or the Iraqi insurgency of Gulf War Two or a few bad apples at the bottom of the chain (no matter the truth of how far up people knew) as in Abu Ghraib.  The army itself is sanctified, untouchable, hence the general grief at General David Petraeus’ fall from grace, not from any military debacle but from personal misdemeanour.  I’m not saying this is agreeable but it does elevate Shwarzkopf beyond the average commander.  I even have his autobiography that I bought second-hand and even used in an undergraduate essay, In The Eye Of The Storm (as is the wont of autobiographies for the cheesy line, a double pun with Desert Storm, though a little more respectful than my heading).  Stormin Norman, a certifiable good guy (despite your temper), I salute you.