Schwarzkopf's Message To The Corps Summary

Competence And Character: Schwarzkopf’s Message To The Corps
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Competence And Character: Schwarzkopf’s Message To The Corps By Lieutenant General Dave R. Palmer "56 (Retired) Assembly Magazine, May 1992 (Note: The author was the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy, more commonly referred to as West Point, when Schwarzkopf delivered his speech.) (Extract from article with parenthetical explanations) General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Class of 1956, returned to his Alma Mater (West Point) on 15 May 1991 to speak to the Corps of Cadets. It was a rare event, for not since Dwight D. Eisenhower returned from Europe in 1945 had America or West Point been able to welcome home a victorious war hero. Excitement and anticipation
Where are the MacArthurs? Where are the Audie Murphys? They are all gone. We don’t have any out there." Coming from a guy who’s never been shot at in his entire life, that’s a pretty bold statement. But, you see, leaders were out there. And they are out there. And YOU will be out there. The Pattons and the Bradleys and the Audie Murphys, they aren’t running around in peacetime killing people, I hope to hell! it takes a war to demonstrate that we have these people in our ranks, and our ranks are loaded with them. They are loaded with them-and you are going to be one of them when you join our ranks. If there is any doubt in anybody’s mind, or was any doubt in anybody’s mind, there sure as hell isn’t any doubt now, because it took us 100 hours to kick the ass of the fourth largest army in the world! Competence with character. That’s what you must have. That’s what you are going to carry with you from West Point. Those of you who really believe what you are learning here. To hell with the cynics. Believe it! Believe it! Believe it! You must believe it if you are going to be a leader of the 21st –century military. You must believe it!” Throughout, the Corps had interrupted the general repeatedly with roars of approval – there is no other way to describe their spontaneous and enthusiastic reception of his presentation. At the end, the First Captain (the cadet commander of the Corps of Cadets), asked him if he would stand for questions. Schwarzkopf had not planned to do so – an audience of nearly 5000 normally is not a good forum for questions – but he graciously accepted the invitation. He held the cadets enthralled for another half hour or so with humor and candor. His performance was a textbook demonstration of charisma and its impact on a body of people. Finally, he paused, looked out over the Corps, and once more made his point: “we’ve had a good time tonght and we’ve had a lot of laughs, but I don’t want you to forget what I told you before. Don’t ever