Middle East
A Look at Colin Powell...a man like no other |
| " Leadership is solving
problems. The day soldiers stop
bringing you their problems is
the day you have stopped leading
them.
They have either lost confidence
that you can help or concluded
you do not care. Either case is
a failure of leadership."
Colin Powell has become not only
a national figurehead for his
dedication to his country, but
the barriers he breached as
being the first Black to serve
as assistant to the President
for National Security Affairs
and every position after that.
His Childhood and College Colin Luther Powell was born of two Jamaican immigrants in Harlem, New York in 1937. Powell would grow up in the South Bronx and graduate from high school with no set direction in his life. He found that direction when he attended the City College of New York to study Geology and ended up joining the Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC) there. Powell would rise quickly as he became commander of the drill term and graduated at the top of his class in 1958. Powell commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army and went off to Infantry Officer's Basic Training. The Army Powell was sent as a military advisor to South Vietnam in 1962 and would be wounded in 1963 by a booby trap. He would be awarded the Purple Heart and then later a Bronze Star for his actions. Powell would served a second tour from 1968-1969, where he would once again be injured. This time a helicopter crashed and he was able to rescue the rest of his soldiers from the 
burning helicopter and received
the Soldier's Medal. By the end,
Powell had received 11 military
decorations, including the
Legion of Merit. The Road to the White House Powell would return to school to earn his MBA at George Washington University and soon be promoted to Major. Upon his promotion Powell won a White House fellowship and worked in the Office of Management and Budget under President Nixon. As a colonel, Powell returned to the Army and served as a battalion commander in Korea. After studying at the Army War College he was promoted to Brigadier General and took command of a brigade at the 101st Airborne Division. Under President Carter, Powell would serve as an assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy. As a Major General, Powell was an assistant commander and deputy commander of infantry division; and would soon return to Washington to be the senior military assistant to the Secretary of Defense. In 1986, Powell stepped away from the White House to once again take command of the Fifth Corps in Germany. His time would be short-lived as he was quickly called back by National Security Advisor, Frank Carlucci, to serve as his deputy. One year later, Carlucci would be appointed as Secretary of Defense and Lieutenant General Powell became the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs under President Reagan. Promoted to four-star General in 1989, Powell would become the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H. W. Bush and become national figurehead during Operation Desert Storm. Powell would soon retire from the military under President Clinton. In 2001, he was sworn in as Secretary of State under President George W. Bush and would serve in this capacity until 2004. *Research done using the link below. |
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