Nick
09-24-2003, 04:26 PM
Reporting for Duty: Wesley Clark
By David H. Hackworth
With Wesley Clark joining the Democratic presidential candidates, there are
enough eager bodies pointed toward the White House to make up a rifle squad.
This bunch of wannabes could make things increasingly hot for Dubya - as
long as they don't blow each other away with friendly fire.
Since Clark tossed his steel pot into the inferno, I've been constantly
asked, "Hack, what do you think of the general?"
For the record, I never served with Clark. But after spending three hours
interviewing the man for Maxim's November issue, I'm impressed. He is
insightful, he has his act together, he understands what makes national
security tick - and he thinks on his feet somewhere around Mach 3. No big
surprise, since he graduated first in his class from West Point, which puts
him in the super-smart set with Robert E. Lee, Douglas MacArthur and Maxwell
Taylor.
Clark was so brilliant, he was whisked off to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and
didn't get his boots into the Vietnam mud until well after his 1966 West
Point class came close to achieving the academy record for the most Purple
Hearts in any one war. When he finally got there, he took over a 1st
Infantry Division rifle company and was badly wounded.
Lt. Gen. James Hollingsworth, one of our Army's most distinguished war
heroes, says: "Clark took a burst of AK fire, but didn't stop fighting. He
stayed on the field till his mission was accomplished and his boys were
safe. He was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart. And he earned 'em."
It took months for Clark to get back in shape. He had the perfect excuse,
but he didn't quit the Army to scale the corporate peaks as so many of our
best and brightest did back then. Instead, he took a demoralized company of
short-timers at Fort Knox who were suffering from a Vietnam hangover and
made them the best on post - a major challenge in 1970 when our Army was
teetering on the edge of anarchy. Then he stuck around to become one of the
young Turks who forged the Green Machine into the magnificent sword that
Norman Schwarzkopf swung so skillfully during Round One of the Gulf War.
I asked Clark why he didn't turn in his bloody soldier suit for Armani and
the big civvy dough that was definitely his for the asking.
His response: "I wanted to serve my country."
He says he now wants to lead America out of the darkness, shorten what
promises to be the longest and nastiest war in our history and restore our
eroding prestige around the world.
For sure, he'll be strong on defense. But with his high moral standards and
because he knows where and how the game's played, there will probably be
zero tolerance for either Pentagon porking or two-bit shenanigans.
No doubt he's made his share of enemies. He doesn't suffer fools easily and
wouldn't have allowed the dilettantes who convinced Dubya to do Iraq to even
cut the White House lawn. So he should prepare for a fair amount of
dart-throwing from detractors he's ripped into during the past three
decades.
Hey, I am one of those: I took a swing at Clark during the Kosovo campaign
when I thought he screwed up the operation, and I called him a "Perfumed
Prince." Only years later did I discover from his book and other research
that I was wrong - the blame should have been worn by British timidity and
William Cohen, U.S. SecDef at the time.
At the interview, Clark came along without the standard platoon of handlers
and treated the little folks who poured the coffee and served the bacon and
eggs with exactly the same respect and consideration he gave the biggies in
the dining room like my colleague Larry King and Bob Tisch, the Regency
Hotel's owner. An appealing common touch.
But if he wins the election, don't expect an Andrew Jackson field-soldier
type. Clark's an intellectual, and his military career is more like Ike's -
that of a staff guy and a brilliant high-level commander. Can he make tough
decisions? Bet on it. Just like Ike did during his eight hard but prosperous
years as president.
The address of David Hackworth's home page is Hackworth.com.
By David H. Hackworth
With Wesley Clark joining the Democratic presidential candidates, there are
enough eager bodies pointed toward the White House to make up a rifle squad.
This bunch of wannabes could make things increasingly hot for Dubya - as
long as they don't blow each other away with friendly fire.
Since Clark tossed his steel pot into the inferno, I've been constantly
asked, "Hack, what do you think of the general?"
For the record, I never served with Clark. But after spending three hours
interviewing the man for Maxim's November issue, I'm impressed. He is
insightful, he has his act together, he understands what makes national
security tick - and he thinks on his feet somewhere around Mach 3. No big
surprise, since he graduated first in his class from West Point, which puts
him in the super-smart set with Robert E. Lee, Douglas MacArthur and Maxwell
Taylor.
Clark was so brilliant, he was whisked off to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and
didn't get his boots into the Vietnam mud until well after his 1966 West
Point class came close to achieving the academy record for the most Purple
Hearts in any one war. When he finally got there, he took over a 1st
Infantry Division rifle company and was badly wounded.
Lt. Gen. James Hollingsworth, one of our Army's most distinguished war
heroes, says: "Clark took a burst of AK fire, but didn't stop fighting. He
stayed on the field till his mission was accomplished and his boys were
safe. He was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart. And he earned 'em."
It took months for Clark to get back in shape. He had the perfect excuse,
but he didn't quit the Army to scale the corporate peaks as so many of our
best and brightest did back then. Instead, he took a demoralized company of
short-timers at Fort Knox who were suffering from a Vietnam hangover and
made them the best on post - a major challenge in 1970 when our Army was
teetering on the edge of anarchy. Then he stuck around to become one of the
young Turks who forged the Green Machine into the magnificent sword that
Norman Schwarzkopf swung so skillfully during Round One of the Gulf War.
I asked Clark why he didn't turn in his bloody soldier suit for Armani and
the big civvy dough that was definitely his for the asking.
His response: "I wanted to serve my country."
He says he now wants to lead America out of the darkness, shorten what
promises to be the longest and nastiest war in our history and restore our
eroding prestige around the world.
For sure, he'll be strong on defense. But with his high moral standards and
because he knows where and how the game's played, there will probably be
zero tolerance for either Pentagon porking or two-bit shenanigans.
No doubt he's made his share of enemies. He doesn't suffer fools easily and
wouldn't have allowed the dilettantes who convinced Dubya to do Iraq to even
cut the White House lawn. So he should prepare for a fair amount of
dart-throwing from detractors he's ripped into during the past three
decades.
Hey, I am one of those: I took a swing at Clark during the Kosovo campaign
when I thought he screwed up the operation, and I called him a "Perfumed
Prince." Only years later did I discover from his book and other research
that I was wrong - the blame should have been worn by British timidity and
William Cohen, U.S. SecDef at the time.
At the interview, Clark came along without the standard platoon of handlers
and treated the little folks who poured the coffee and served the bacon and
eggs with exactly the same respect and consideration he gave the biggies in
the dining room like my colleague Larry King and Bob Tisch, the Regency
Hotel's owner. An appealing common touch.
But if he wins the election, don't expect an Andrew Jackson field-soldier
type. Clark's an intellectual, and his military career is more like Ike's -
that of a staff guy and a brilliant high-level commander. Can he make tough
decisions? Bet on it. Just like Ike did during his eight hard but prosperous
years as president.
The address of David Hackworth's home page is Hackworth.com.