Colin Powell

At 84 years old, Colin Powell has this physical status:

Military career

Powell served as a military service and staff soldier for 35 years, rising to the rank of general after serving in a variety of command and staff positions.

According to Powell:

Powell joined the Pershing Rifles, the ROTC fraternal group and drill team formed by GC John Pershing as a cadet.

He received a commission as an Army second lieutenant on graduation; at this time, the Army was also divided (see: Executive Order 9981). He underwent training in the state of Georgia, where he was refused entry in bars and restaurants due to his skin color. Powell was drafted as a platoon leader after basic training at Fort Benning. He served as a unit liaison officer, company executive officer, and company general manager of Company A, the 4th Infantry Brigade, 5th Infantry Division, 5th Infantry Division, at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, from 1960 to 1962.

Captain Powell served as a South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) advisor from 1962 to 1963. He was wounded while on patrol in a Viet Cong-controlled area after stepping on a punji stake. The widespread infection made it impossible for him to walk and caused his foot to swell for a brief period of time, reducing his first tour.

Powell joined Vietnam in 1968 as an assistant chief of staff for the 23rd (Americal) Infantry Division. After surviving a helicopter crash and single-handedly saved three others, including division commander Major General Charles M. Gettys, from the burning wreckage during his second tour in Vietnam, he was given the Soldier's Medal for bravery.

Powell was charged with investigating a lengthy letter sent by 11th Light Infantry Brigade soldier Tom Glen, which backed up rumors of the 1968 M Lai massacre. "The fact that American soldiers and the Vietnamese people's friendships are strong is a point of refutation of this portrayal," Powell said. Powell's report would be described as whitewashing the event's news, and concerns would continue to be unveiled to the public. "I was in a unit that was responsible for My Lai" in May 2004," Powell told television and radio host Larry King. After My Lai's incident, I was there. So, these sorts of horrific events happen every now and then, but they are also to be condemned."

Powell earned a Master of Business Administration degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., when he returned to the United States from Vietnam in 1971. He served as a White House Fellow under President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1973. He attended the National War College in Washington, D.C., from 1975 to 1976.

Powell's autobiography, My American Journey, he named several officers he worked under who inspired and mentored him. Powell, as a lieutenant colonel leading 1st Battalion, the 32nd Infantry in South Korea, was very close to his division commander, Major General Henry "Gunfighter" Emerson, who was regarded as one of the most caring officers he had ever encountered. Emerson argued that his troops train at night to prevent a potential North Korean attack and that they were made to regularly watch Brian's Song to promote ethnic unity. Powell has always said that Emerson was defined by his unbridled love of his troops and concern for their welfare. After a riot that nearly killed a white soldier, Emerson was charged with black violence; Powell's efforts culminated in the dismissal of one soldier, as well as other attempts to reduce racial tensions. He commanded the 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division from 1976-1977.

Powell then served as the junior military assistant to defense ministers Charles Duncan and Graham Claytor, earning the promotion to brigadier general on June 1, 1979. Stuart Purviance, Secretary Harold Brown's protocol officer, received a framed quote from President Abraham Lincoln at the funeral. "I can make a brigadier general in five minutes," the writer wrote. However, replacing one hundred ten horses isn't so simple. An envelope with instructions that it not be opened for ten years was taped to the back of the frame. Powell wrote the letter in 1989, shortly after he had been appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Purviance read Purviance's opinon that Powell would be Chief of Staff of the United States Army. Despite his rank and position, Powell wrote that he retained the Lincoln quote as a reminder to remain humble.

Powell converted his position as the now-senior military assistant into Ronald Reagan's presidency, and he served under Claytor's successor, Frank Carlucci, as the deputy defense secretary of defense. Powell and Carlucci developed a close friendship by first names in private, as Powell denied any such thing as a first-name basis in an official capacity. It was on Powell's recommendation that Roy Benavidez be given the Medal of Honor, though the Carter administration had denied it. Powell declined an invitation from Secretary of the Army John O. Marsh Jr. to serve as his under secretary due to his reluctance to accept a political post; instead, James R. Ambrose was chosen. Powell requested Carlucci and Army chief of staff Edward C. Meyer for reassignment away from the Pentagon, with Meyer naming Powell as assistant division commander for operations and training of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado, under Major General John W. Hudachek.

Powell, a retired soldier from Fort Carson, was his senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who was active during the 1983 invasion of Grenada and the 1986 airstrike on Libya. Powell was also involved in the unlawful transfer of TOW anti-tank missiles and Hawk anti-aircraft missiles from Israel to Iran as part of the criminal conspiracy that would later be referred to as the Iran-Contra affair by Weinberger. 342–349 Powell sold and delivered to Weinberger a law opinion that the transfer of Hawk missiles to Israel or Iran without congressional alert would be "a clear breach" of the Constitution. Despite this, thousands of TOW missiles and hundreds of Hawk missiles were moved from Israel to Iran, and spare parts were never revealed until the venture was revealed in a Lebanese newspaper, Ash-Shiraa, in November 1986. When challenged by Congress about documents that were not withheld by Weinberger and that some of Powell's and others' concealing the notes "was opaque enough to pass the new, poorly defined obstacle test. Weinberger was indicted on five criminal charges, including one count of obstruction of Congress for concealing the notes." 404 on September 3, 2004 Weinberger resigned as Defense Minister, but he was suspended on five counts, including one count Obstruction of Congress for concealing the notes." 456 Powell was never charged by the Independent Counsel in connection with the Iran-Contra affair.

Powell took over the V Corps' command in Frankfurt, Germany, from Robert Lewis "Sam" Wetzel in 1986. Under Frank Carlucci, he spent the next year as United States Deputy National Security Advisor.

Powell became the Iran-Contra advisor at the age of 49, Ronald Reagan's National Security Advisor, who served from 1987 to 1989, while keeping his Army service as a lieutenant general. He aided in the drafting of a number of arms treaties with Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union's chief.

Powell was promoted to four-star general under President George H. Bush and briefly served as the Commander in Chief of Forces Command (FORSCOM), headquartered in Fort McPherson, Georgia, overseeing all Army, Army Reserve, and National Guard units in the Continental United States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, after his time with the National Security Council. He was the third general since World War II to serve as a division commander, working alongside Dwight D. Eisenhower and Alexander Haig.

President George H. Bush nominated him as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff later this year.

Powell's last military service, from October 1, 1989 to September 30, 1993, was as the 12th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the Department of Defense. He became the first Afro-Caribbean American to serve in this capacity at the age of 52. Powell was also the first JCS chair to be recognized by ROTC.

Powell oversaw responses to 28 crises, including the invasion of Panama in 1989 to boot General Manuel Noriega from office and Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Powell earned the nickname "the reluctant warrior" during these performances, although Powell resisted this term and spoke in favor of the first Bush administration's Gulf War policies.

Powell, a military strategist, advocated for a military conflict that maximizes the chances for success and minimizes casualties. The use of overwhelming power, which he used to Operation Desert Storm in 1991, is a main focus of this strategy. His strategy has been dubbed the Powell Doctrine. Powell served as chairman of the JCS until the Clinton presidency. However, as a genuineist, he considered himself to be a bad match for a liberal internationalist government that was largely made up of liberal internationalists. As he opposed any military action that did not involve US interests, he clashed with then-US ambassador Madeleine Albright over the Bosnian crisis.

After Aspin was first selected by President Clinton, Powell continued to clash with Defense Secretary Leslie Aspin, who was initially reluctant to help after being named by President Clinton. Aspin was more focused on eating salad rather than listening and paying attention to Powell's military operations during a lunch meeting between Powell and Aspin in the run-up to Operation Gothic Serpent. Powell became more irritated with Aspin, resulting in his early resignation on September 30, 1993. Powell was briefly replaced by Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral David E. Jeremiah, who took over as Acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Battle of Mogadishu, aimed at capturing Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, was launched and ended in tragedy shortly after Powell's resignation, on October 3-4, 1993. Powell later defended Aspin, saying in part that he could not blame Aspin for Aspin's decision to ban a Lockheed AC-130 from the list of armaments ordered for the operation.

On September 30, 1993, Powell resigned early from his role as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During JCS chairmanship, there was discussion of awarding Powell a fifth star, assuaging him to the rank of General of the Army. However, even as public and congressional pressures compelled them to do so, Clinton-Gore presidential transition team staffers decided against it.

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