Great Speech by new CSA

[MSG Dman]

General Peter J. Schoomaker

35TH CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE ARMY

Arrival Message

This afternoon I stood in the office of the Secretary of the Army and was
sworn in as the 35th Chief of Staff of the Army. Thirty-four other
distinguished leaders have preceded me-well-known stewards of our Army. It
is a great honor to walk in their footsteps.

Twenty-three years ago I stood in another place-in the Iranian desert on a
moonlit night at a place called Desert One. I keep a photo of the carnage
that night to remind me that we should never confuse enthusiasm with
capability. Eight of my comrades lost their lives. Those of us who
survived knew grief ... we knew failure...but we committed ourselves to a
different future.

There were some important things we did not know about the future that
night. We did not recognize that this was a watershed event... that the
military services would begin a great period of renewal that continues to
this day. We did not know that we were at the start of an unprecedented
movement to jointness in every aspect of our military culture, structure,
and operations... a movement that must continue. We also did not realize
that we were in one of the opening engagements of this country's long
struggle against terrorism... a struggle that would reach our homeland and
become known as the Global War on Terror.

Today, our Nation is at war and we are a critical part of the joint team-
an Army at war. This is not a new war. Our enemies have been waging it for
some time, and it will continue for the foreseeable future. As the
President has stated, "This is a different kind of war against a different
kind of enemy." It is a war we must win, a war for our very way of life.

War is both a physical reality and a state of mind. War is ambiguous,
uncertain, and unfair. When we are at war, we must think and act
differently. We become more flexible and more adaptable. We must
anticipate the ultimate reality check - combat. We must win both the war
and the peace. We must be prepared to question everything. What is best
for the Nation? What must endure? What must change?

This war has demonstrated that our Soldiers, civilians, and families are
up to the task. It has also provided new insights into the current
operating environment. Can we sustain our high performance with our
current methods of preparation? Can our Combat Training Centers better
reflect the joint context in which we will fight? Are we organized for the
long haul? We must answer these questions and more. We need to be mindful
that the world has changed and it will never return to what we knew
before. As my great friend, **** Meadows, always said, "The Army ain't
like it used to be...and it never was."

Sustained engagement of our Army will be the norm, not the exception. How
do we man the Army in a way that provides cohesive, high performing units
in this reality of continuous engagement?

Our recent combat operations reinforce the requirements for units and
echelons that are flexible and tailorable. Can we balance our force
structure and develop increased modularity so as to enhance our critical
role in effective joint contingency operations while maintaining our
campaign qualities?

We have already shown that we have innovative and adaptive leaders. But
our enemies are adapting as well. Will our development programs continue
to produce leaders who can meet this challenge?

Leadership and courage are easily recognized as prerequisites at the
tactical level, but they are essential at the operational and strategic
levels as well. Are we developing the George C. Marshalls for the new era?

The National Guard and Army Reserve are indispensable, full members of the
team. Do we have the proper mix of both active and reserve units? Are we
properly balanced? Is all of our structure readily accessible to meet the
requirements of this and future wars?

As we transform the Army from the current force to the future force we
must ask these questions and more. While some things will change, others
will not.

The American Soldier remains indispensable. Our Soldiers are paramount and
will remain the centerpiece of our thinking, our systems, and our combat
formations. As General Creighton Abrams taught us, "People are not in the
Army, they are the Army."

We are, have been, and will remain a values based institution. Our values
will not change and they are non-negotiable. Our Soldiers are Warriors of
character. They exemplify these values every day and are the epitome of
our American spirit. They are the heart of the Army.

As long as the United States Army has existed we have transformed...and we
always will. For four years under General Shinseki our Army has asked hard
questions and made tough choices. We will continue to go where the answers
to those questions take us. Our azimuth to the future is good. The Army
must remain relevant and ready.

Our Army has much to be proud of. It is the preeminent land force in the
world - and continues to be respected by our friends... and feared by our
enemies. We set the standard. We were part of the joint team that defeated
the Taliban in Afghanistan and took down a brutal regime in Iraq. Today we
are deployed and conducting contingency operations at an unprecedented
pace. Our Soldiers, civilians, and their families set the standard every
day for selfless service.

The Army continues to serve our great Nation well and faithfully as it has
in the past. For more than 228 years, the Army has never failed the
American people, and it never will.

As an American Soldier, I have never left your ranks; but it is a great
privilege to wear our uniform once again.

[Apogee]

That man is a certified badass.

[MSG Dman]

I just read this mans complete bio and in addition to being a Delta Force Squadron commander, he then moved up to be the Delta Detachment commander and then the USASOC commander, pretty impressive credentials.

I think the bigger issue is that for the Army to call this man out of retirement, with the background that he has, must mean a planned shift to more special operations in the future.

[SABER 2-3]

I agree 100%, Master Sgt. I was not all "thumbs up" w/ the last CSA or his agenda.
Now the Army has a Leader who knows, first hand; the cost of denial at all levels.
Not only did the CSA give a hell of a speech, he also was quick to credit and his own mind-set.

Now I hope the CSA will do an involuntary recall of Gen. David Grange Jr.

[SABER 2-3]

corrrection: should read- He was quick to give due credit and respect. This showed his own mind-set. The United States is lucky to have Gen. Schoomaker in charge of our countries most powerful arm.

[budanski]

Army gets one tough man for one tough job: chief of staff
By Joseph L. Galloway
Knight Ridder Newspapers (http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/6470066.htm)

WASHINGTON - A new chief of staff of the U.S. Army, the 35th chief of the nation's senior service, has taken the helm. His name is Pete Schoomaker, and he's about as tender as woodpecker lips.

Much of what he's done and seen in more than 30 years of active-duty service is classified above Top Secret. He was, for a time, an operator in the Delta Force, the Army's super-secret counter-terrorism force. Schoomaker was present on the ill-fated 1980 hostage-rescue mission into Iran that ended in fire and failure.

His memories of that night, when what was intended to be a lightning strike into the heart of the enemy's capital to rescue the U.S. Embassy hostages dissolved into disaster at a desert landing strip, are clear and painful:

"Twenty-three years ago I stood ... in the Iranian desert on a moonlit night at a place called Desert One. I keep a photo of the carnage that night to remind me that we would never confuse enthusiasm with capability. Eight of my comrades lost their lives. Those of us who survived knew grief ... we knew failure - but we committed ourselves to a different future," Schoomaker said in his arrival message to the Army.

In the wake of that searing failure, the nation created the Special Operations Command (SOCOM), and with it an organization that could undertake missions like the one in Iran with success, not failure, built into the planning and execution. Years later, Pete Schoomaker commanded SOCOM and helped build and shape an organization that put more than 13,000 special operators on the ground in Iraq.

But an old comrade says this is what you really need to know about Pete Schoomaker:

"In 1978 Charlie Beckwith (the legendary founder of the Delta Force) sent him and the other young bucks we had selected on one of the exercises we used to evaluate and train them," said L.H. ``Bucky'' Burruss, also a veteran of Desert One.

"We parachuted each of them singly onto one of the Fort Bragg drop zones, had each of them link up with a `partisan' who issued him a weapon and the task of walking miles alone from the drop zone, infiltrating a building in the cantonment area and killing a target with live ammo - all within a nearly impossible timeframe."

Burrus adds, "Captain Schoomaker did (this mission) successfully, although we noticed he was limping when he finished. It wasn't until the next day that we discovered he had broken his foot on the jump."

Gen. Schoomaker, who was summoned out of 2 { years of retirement by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld after several three- and four-star generals turned down the job of Army chief, is now turning his attention to a plate full of problems.

In his arrival statement, Schoomaker said the United States is at war with terrorism worldwide and must win.

"War is both a physical reality and a state of mind," Schoomaker declared. "War is ambiguous, uncertain and unfair. We become more flexible and more adaptable. We must anticipate the ultimate reality check - combat. We must win both the war and the peace. We must be prepared to question everything: What is best for the nation? What must endure? What must change?"

Schoomaker praised the soldiers who are his Army, and their families, as well as the National Guard and Army Reserve units that are "indispensable, full members of the team." He quoted the late Gen. Creighton Abrams, a commander in the Vietnam War who became Army chief himself: "People are not in the Army; they are the Army."

In testimony before Congress last week, Schoomaker, 57, said he and Rumsfeld had agreed that between them they would have an "open and honest dialogue." Asked if he thought the Army needed more people, Schoomaker replied that he did. "It's one of the things ... we are going to have to look at immediately."

Schoomaker testified that he believed U.S. troops would be in Iraq a long time, and no one should be looking for a quick or easy solution. "If you look at history, in the Balkans and elsewhere, you will find that thinking in the short-term isn't the way to go."

If Secretary Rumsfeld thinks he's found a softer, easier Army chief to deal with after the retirement of Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, his nemesis for the last two years, he should disabuse himself of that notion. Pete Schoomaker doesn't roll over and he never quits.