This book includes a plain text version that is designed for high accessibility. To use this version please follow this link.
Q & A GEN. COLIN POWELL, USA (RET)


Marines bound for Operation Desert Shield board a commer- cial aircraft chartered by the Military Airlift Command.


With the CRAF activated and pro- viding additional lift, we were able to put it all in place. Success in war often is a matter of logistics. How to get it all there, clothe and feed the troops, provide water, fi eld hospitals. How do we move that corps north, all the way up the pipeline road almost to the Iraqi border? How do we position them in the western area of operation? We had the genius of one logisti- cian, [Army] Lt. Gen. William G. “Gus” Pagonis. I had served with Gus many times over the years. He was a two-star, and as soon as we saw what he was doing, we promot- ed him to three stars.


So goals were to protect Saudi Arabia, build up forces for liberating Kuwait, expand alliances. What were the challenges to overcome? Almost all of the challenges were not related to how to fi ght the war, al-


66 MILITARY OFFICER JANUARY 2016


though that got controversial, but to the logistics, complicated by patriotic Americans. Nice people in the Unit- ed States wanted to send ice cream to the troops. Well, ice cream melts in the desert. Frozen pizzas thaw. My friend Arnold Schwarzenegger called to say troops have to stay in fi t condi- tion, so he was sending a truckload of exercise equipment. By late fall, America’s response to


troops preparing to fi ght was so over- whelming that they were bombarding us with gifts and food and cookies


and all kinds of things, most of which we did not need. Schwarzkopf called and said, “You’ve got to do something. All this stuff is stopping the fl ow of things we need.” I said, “Norm, I will give you


more resources. But we can’t tell the American people they can’t do this.” It meant so much to them and was part of our eff ort to maintain morale and esprit de corps. So logistics was a serious problem. But the thing on my mind all the time, and on Norm’s, was the ques-


The thing on my mind all the time, and on Norm’s, was … what will this war cost in casualties?


PHOTO: DOD


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96