Memoirs of a Confident Retired Commander

Army, Feb 2005 by Kroesen, Frederick J

Memoirs of a Confident Retired Commander American Soldier. General Tommy Franks, with Malcolm McConnell. ReganBooks, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. 590 pages; photographs; maps; index; $27.95.

The memoirs of public figures are almost always interesting. The author is someone known to the public who has been in a position of public trust and has lived a life and a career that pushed him ahead of his peers. His recounting of that life, replete with anecdotal references to important people, national crises, successful missions and guiding principles is, hopefully, educational while being entertaining.

Gen. Tommy Franks has written just such a book. From the obligatory trip through his childhood to his farewell speech at his retirement ceremony, this is his story, his life. For those acquainted with Army careers, the story is familiar, becoming atypical only in the later chapters when he is promoted to general officer ranks. He worked for good commanders, mentors, and also for those he knew not to emulate.

He had great, memorable enlisted soldiers who taught him valuable lessons, and he knew some who needed and received valuable lessons from him.

The story is told in the vernacular, accommodating to the modern style of emphasizing with four-letter words. It contains heartfelt stories and reminiscences as he remembers them, triumphs and tragedies that are part and parcel of a commander's or staff officer's career. The chapter on the Vietnam War, aptly titled "The Crucible," is particularly important both to the story and to the molding of the man destined for the highest levels of command. He learned important lessons and made good observations that contributed to his understanding of leadership.

The overall value of the book, however, is tied to the later chapters, Central Command and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is here we find a resolute commander, willing to accept a tough job, beset with inadequate intelligence and uncertain political bosses, who provides his accounting of three years of preparation for and the conduct of war.

The account is long on perspicacity, references to historical precedence and the good judgment of the decision makers in reporting what happened. It is caustically critical of "service parochialism" and people who did not understand the role of CINCs as combatant commanders, who needed to review their relevance to today's world, their need to think along nontraditional lines, and who were better at identifying problems than finding solutions. There are a number of frank reactions to and appraisals of other government figures.

Given that basic understanding of the people involved, this story is an informative, sometimes emotional account of what happened, from the attack on the USS Cole to the capture of Baghdad during Franks' three years on the job. The details of plans, operations and decisions made are well covered and interestingly expressed; however, the why and how explanations are usually omitted or discussed only vaguely. Problems are downplayed, ignored or turned into positives.

For example, the stranding of the 4th Division in the Mediterranean, which must have given pause to the subordinates who assured the President that we "have all we need," is treated as a positive factor because it contributed to deception of the Iraqis who deployed forces north of Baghdad and kept them there anticipating the attack that never came.

The campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq are clearly presented, but in a first-person account, resembling daily news coverage spiked with anecdotes. Readers will gain an understanding of this CINC's view of combat operations, but we will have to wait for historians to provide depth and balance to complete our understanding of these campaigns.

A 28-page epilogue reiterates a belief in what we have done, satisfaction with the way it was done, and an appraisal of what is yet to be done. It is a summary provided by a confident retired commander who has no second guesses and no regrets about how things were done.

By Gen. Frederick J. Kroesen

U.S. Army retired

GEN. FREDERICK J. KROESEN, USA Ret., is a former commander in chief of U.S. Army Europe and a senior fellow of AUSA's Institute of Land Warfare.