Colin Powell

[Icarus]

We lost a real gentleman soldier when General Powell left these mortal coils.  He was much more than just a soldier.

[Tank]

Yes he was a good and great man.

[Bebé Bruno]

He most certainly was a very accomplished, and remarkable person. I have only the highest and deepest respect for him, he was as we used to say in the service, a soldier's soldier.

I actually had the honor to meet him once while I was in the Army.

Boring Bruno story is here: [spoiler]I was assigned at the time to a Joint Task Force, and General Powell was visisting the base which is located in Honduras. I had gotten chosen to be one of the Army representatives to greet the General upon his arrival, along with Navy, Air Force and Marines who also comprised our Task Force.

His chopper was an hour late or more in arriving, but finally he got there...after a formal greeting, and welcome by the Chain of Command, General Powell walked up to the microphone and said, "I've been in the service a long time, and if I know anything I know you folks have probably been standing out here in this field for hours, under this very hot sun waiting on some old General to arrive...so how about you all just break ranks and get closer".

This was a welcome respite, as he was correct, we had been standing out there for some time...he spoke to us at length about our mission, and the excellent job we were doing, and how we honored our country with our service, etc...

After he finished talking he started to mingle with those of us who were still standing behind him as part of the welcoming committee...so I was able to shake his hand and speak to him for a few minutes. He was very kind, asking me where I was from back in the States, and then when he recognized my Parachute Rigger Badge asked me if I had taken part in an air-operation we had had earlier that week. When I responded that I had he then surprised me by asking me some detailed questions regarding the operation itself. I mean this was at the heart of the Gulf War, so I was surprised he took the time to review it such detail.

Anyway, that was it, he patted me on the shoulder, and continued meeting with other individual service members. For those of us who had the opportunity to actually meet him this was for us like getting to me Mick Jagger backstage after a Stones concert,...very, very fucking cool.

So a couple years later I'm back in Honduras, but this time as a civilian. I'm in the city of Comayagua which is just outside the base where I met Gen. Powell. I walk into a photo store to buy some actual film (1993).

The owner of the photo store is also a professional photographer, and he had pictures he had taken covering the walls of his store. As I'm waiting I noticed he had a number of pictures of Gen. Powell from his visit two years earlier, and I thought maybe I might see myself in one of the pictures, you know standing somewhere in the background.
Then I see it, a picture of General Colin Powell shaking hands with me, Bruno...I mean it's a very clear, and close up picture of the two us standing, and  greeting each other. I'm in total shock, I I'll call my wife over and tell her to look, and she's like, "OMG it's you and the General"!

I point this out to the man running the store, and tell him I want to buy either the picture, or a copy or even the negative.
He tells me he'll have to speak to the owner, but he'll find out and get back to us...we leave him my sister-in-law phone number who lives in the City. We never hear from them, so I stop by again just before we are heading back to the states. This time the owner is there, and he said he can't sell me the picture on the wall, but he'll make a copy for me, and give it to my sister-in-law. I leave her $50.00 USD (He agreed to sell me the copy for $20.USD, but I gave her the extra $30 just in case...I never got the $50 back either )

Long story short I never received the copy. My sister-in-law said she checked back with him several times, and he always told her he would get to it later, and check back him in a week or so, but she was never able to get it, and then he ended up shutting down the store later that same year.

It was such a great picture, and I'll be forever bummed that I couldn't get a copy of it...but at least I got to meet the General.
[/spoiler]

[Tom62]

I didn't like that he lied to the whole world about    WMDs in Iraq, which resulted in an illegal war and destabilised the whole region.

[Recusant]

I didn't like that he lied to the whole world about    WMDs in Iraq, which resulted in an illegal war and destabilised the whole region.

Indeed, and even though I agree with those who believe that he deserves considerable respect, his place in history is definitely not untarnished.

[jumbojak]

I didn't like that he lied to the whole world about    WMDs in Iraq, which resulted in an illegal war and destabilised the whole region.

Indeed, and even though I agree with those who believe that he deserves considerable respect, his place in history is definitely not untarnished.

Nobody's place in history is untarnished. That's one of the side effects of living in the public eye. In his case he should have been much more cautious regarding wmd in Iraq and not spent his political capital on something that turned out to be untrue but, overall, I always liked Powell.

I remember watching a documentary about Vietnam where he was interviewed about the use of body armor during the conflict. He managed to get approval for a trial of very primitive steel plate armor with his company and even convinced his men to try it.

They hated carrying that armor through the jungle but were happy to have it when they were taking fire. He was an interesting and forward thinking man.

[billy rubin]

body armour in nam weighed abiut 8 pounds.

the total field kit for an american soldier these days is abiut 100 pounds. dont know offhand what the modern kevlar armour weighs