THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 28, 1994 TAG: 9410280598
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Gen. Frederick M. Franks Jr., ending 35 years of military service as he turned over command Thursday of the Army's ``think tank,'' told an audience at Fort Monroe there was a time he doubted he would see this day.
That was May 5, 1970, when, as a major, he was seriously wounded by a mortar round in Vietnam. He lost a leg, but not his ability to fight in at least one more conflict.
Franks later led one of the largest armored attacks in history as the commander of the VII Corps during Operation Desert Storm, routing Iraq's Republican Guard.
On Thursday, as he turned over the Army's Training and Doctrine Command to Gen. William W. Hartzog, Franks thanked the Army for letting him serve.
``I count myself truly fortunate to walk in the ranks of such great Americans,'' he told several hundred guests at Continental Park, huddled beneath a brilliant fall sky and chilling harbor winds.
But it was Franks, 58, who received most of the thanks, from the dozens of top officers who attended the ceremony, including Army Gen. John A. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, plus the men and women Franks has befriended and commanded over the years.
Franks was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal Thursday for his work. His wife, Denise, was awarded the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal for her years of work with the military and its families.
Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, Army chief of staff, said, ``You both overcame and triumphed over wounds which would have destroyed a lesser man.''
Sullivan called Franks the ``architect of the future,'' for providing the Army its methods and tools for meeting tomorrow's challenges.
It has been Franks' job for the past three years to mold tried-and-true Army fighting methods with the high-tech future, putting computers in tanks and helicopters - even on the backs of soldiers.
TRADOC, as his command is called, is made up of 64,000 soldiers and civilians at 26 schools and 17 installations around the country.
During his tenure, Franks established seven mini-think tanks, run by battle-tested officers from operations in Panama and Iraq, to bring from the drawing board to reality concepts dubbed the ``Digitalized Battlefield'' and the ``21st Century Land Warrior.''
Just before his troops attacked into Iraq, Franks recalled, a young soldier said to him: ``Don't worry general. We trust you.''
Franks said he hopes today's military leadership remains worthy of that trust. ``We knew then and now to see to it that we sustain that commitment and investment and capabilities,'' he said.
Hartzog, 52, who served with the U.S. Atlantic Command in Norfolk as it evolved as the premier joint training command in the country, spent part of last week in Haiti, reviewing troops. During his visit, he met a young soldier, Spec. 4 Tony Linguin Jr. of Ahoskie, N.C., who is a member of the 10th Mountain Division, headquartered in New York.
Linguin was walking the perimeter of the Haitian national palace when Hartzog entered his outpost.
``I said, `How you feel about this job?' because he was looking into a crowd of about 200 people and they weren't very friendly.
``He said, `Well, I've done this a lot of times before. I've done this in the Joint Readiness Training Center. This is not unusual.'
``And he handed to me his night vision goggles and said, `I don't have any problem. I can see these people. I know what they are doing. And I know what it is that is expected of me. So I am pretty comfortable here,' '' Hartzog said, as he recalled the training, doctrine, combat development and leadership the Army teaches today.
Twenty years from now, he said, there may be a Spec. 4 Tony Linguin III or IV.
``I don't know whether he will be getting out of a Humvee or air car, or have a directed-energy pistol or rifle. I don't know if he will have a laser in his hand, or a heads-up display in some helmet. He may have rehearsed what he is doing 100 times before in a synthetic theater of war.
``I don't know that. But what is important when his general stops by (is for) Spec. 4 Tony Linguin III or IV to say, `You know. I've done that 15 times before. I am well-equipped and well-armed, and I know what is expected of me.' '' ILLUSTRATION: JIM WALKER/Staff
Gen. Frederick M. Franks Jr. and his wife, Denise, share a happy
moment after the ceremony Thursday honoring him for 35 years of
military service. Frank turned over command of the Army's Training
and Doctrine Command to Gen. William W. Hartzog.
by CNB