Biography of general tommy franks

Contact About Privacy. Vasiliy Vasilyev. Pierre Billotte.

Biography of general tommy franks

Walter Kruger. Haim Laskov. Genaro Quesada y Matheus. Abbas Gharabaghi. Franks was already a four—star general and the commander of CentCom, responsible for military operations in 25 countries in Africa, the Middle East , and Asia, when al—Qaeda terrorists attacked the United States on September 11, The following day, U. Within a week, the general had a plan to attack the terrorists and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and less than a month later, the air strikes there had begun.

Relying primarily on special operations forces, local militia, CIA operations, and air support, Franks' successfully routed the Taliban in fairly short order. His strategy in Afghanistan was not without critics, including Rumsfeld at times, but the defeat of the Taliban and support of the administration soon quieted those voices. The U.

First, he dismissed administration officials who supported the idea of amassing huge ground forces. Instead, he used small forces that moved quickly. This provided agility and the element of surprise. Another new concept, begun in Afghanistan, was integration of the four branches of the armed services. I believe that is transformational.

Finally, and not incidentally, Franks had access to technological advances from precision bombs to real time computer tracking that no general before him had ever had. A combination of these factors, along with the more prosaic contributions of the soldiers' hard work and sacrifice, led to the taking of Baghdad in just three weeks. Franks' successes in Afghanistan and Iraq led many to hail him as perhaps the greatest military leader of the 21st century.

Franks, however, had not forgotten being wounded three times in Vietnam and thus was not one to glorify or romanticize the price of battle. As Vulliamy noted, one of the general's stock comments was, "No one hates war like a soldier hates war. Franks retired from the army on August 1, Far from slowing down, however, he promptly filled his schedule with speaking engagements and began to write his memoirs.

The book, American Soldier, was published in August of He also managed to find a moment that year to add the honor of being named Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In his spare time, Franks indulged in such favorite pursuits as golf, antiques, and spoiling the two children one of whom dubbed the general "Pooh" of his only child, Jacqy.

While the campaign Franks led in Iraq was unequivocally effective in ousting Saddam Hussein , the ongoing violence and turmoil after victory was declared led to varied views on what his legacy would be. In hindsight, Franks maintained that he would still use the "small and fast" attack strategy, but allowed that other things not necessarily under his control might have been handled differently.

In any event, he remained convinced that the world was much safer without Hussein in power and hoped the United States would continue to combat terrorism away from home. The blessings of this country are not by accident. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. January 9, Retrieved January 09, from Encyclopedia.

Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia. He dropped out of college after two years due to subpar grades and lack of motivation. In , Franks decided to give himself a "jolt" and joined the U.

Army, reportedly nursing a hangover while at the local recruiter's office. He graduated and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Field Artillery in In , he was selected to participate in the Army's "Boot Strap Degree Completion Program," and subsequently attended the University of Texas at Arlington, where he finished his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in He returned to the U.

He also served as Chief of Staff, 1st Cavalry Division during this tour. Forces Korea. From , Franks commanded the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea. He assumed Command of Third U. Marine Corps. Franks was the U. General that led the invasion of Afghanistan and the overthrow of the Taliban government in response to the 11 September attacks.

He also led the invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Following his retirement, Franks published his memoirs in American Soldier , [ 16 ] which debuted as 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list in August , [ 3 ] displacing President Bill Clinton 's memoir from the top spot. One reviewer praised General Franks' recollections of his Vietnam service but opined that the book, like the plan for and execution of the Iraq war itself, he said, "begins better than it ends.

Bush for re-election. In December , Franks was appointed to the Bank of America board of directors , a position he held until resigning on 11 June for unspecified reasons but as part of an "exodus" of ten directors from April to August, On 26 March , he was elected to the board of directors of Chuck E. Franks sits on the board of directors of the National Park Foundation.

Additionally he sits in the board of trustees for William Penn University, a university founded and supported by the Society of Friends Quakers. A museum dedicated to him lies in Hobart, Oklahoma. Franks currently resides in Roosevelt, Oklahoma. Roger Chapin , president of the charity, and his wife had apparently been living a lavish lifestyle on the charity's money.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item. American general born Early life and education [ edit ]. Military career [ edit ]. Iraq War [ edit ]. Weapons of mass destruction [ edit ]. Service summary [ edit ]. Personal life [ edit ].

Charity controversy [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 5 March Retrieved 10 April Retrieved Franks writes on page 49 that he had "lugged my duffle bag under the steel arch topped with the sign reading "Robinson Barracks, United States Army Artillery Officer Cadet School. The New Republic. Inside the Army.

Inside Washington Publishers: 13— JSTOR Retrieved 13 October