Essay - General Norman Schwarzkopf General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. Was Born...

General Norman Schwarzkopf

***** H. ***** Schwarzkopf, Jr. was born in Trenton, New Jersey on August 22 in the year 1934. He was named after his father, who was a West Point graduate and a decorated veteran of the Armed Forces, much like the younger Schwarzkopf has now become. General Schwarzkopf himself graduated from West ***** in 1956 ***** has become one ***** our generation's most brilliant military leaders. He retired in the fall of 1991, shortly after successfully lead*****g the Allied Troops into the Persian Gulf War earlier that year.

Growing up as the youngest of three children, Schwarzkopf was taught from an early age ***** women were to be protected, that men were to protect them *****d that "Duty, Honor Country" would become the creed of ***** life. When his fa*****r was called overseas during the onset ***** World War II in ***** of 1942, he became t***** head of *****he family in ***** father's absence - at the young ***** of seven. Despite his young age, he tried to grasp the immense responsibilities th***** had been placed upon him. "My mo*****r I thought I could handle. It ***** my sisters I was ********** worried about, since ***** ***** no control over anything ***** sisters did." (*****, 2)

Because of the difficult financial strain that his father's absence caused, Schwarzkopf began ***** look for ways to earn ***** own money. He *****ok on a paper route, but quickly learned that he was *****t very good at it - he lasted only ***** three weeks. He then decided to sell seed packets ***** his neighbors, but failed quite miserably as well. The family had to make sacrifices, including moving out ***** their large house ***** a smaller rented one, and having ***** deal with the rations of gasoline during ***** war. Regardless of his entrepreneurial mishaps, Sch*****zkopf learned a strong work ethic from both ***** his parents ***** his mother ***** a registered nurse and ***** father, aside from his ***** career, was the head of the New ***** State Police ***** fifteen years. Schwarzkopf first recalls his dad's career as a police officer in reference to the L*****den berg kidnapping that ***** so public at that time.

From the time he w***** t*****elve until his retirement at fifty-seven, Schwarzkopf's way of ***** was militarily based. The family was sent ***** ***** Tehran in 1953, where Schwarzkopf spent a year soaking up the atmosphere in the Middle East. A year later, he was sent off to school in Europe, where he learned to speak French and German. All the while, he aspired to follow in his fat*****r's footsteps at West Po*****t, ***** the Army, where he knew he would ***** day become General.

After his West Point graduation in 1956, he ***** assigned ***** various tasks within the Army. He ***** served two t*****s ***** the Vietnam *****. His first was as a paratrooper responsible for aiding Vietnamese air*****e troops; the second was with him as ***** commander of