10 LEADERS WHO CHANGED THE ARMY - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

10 LEADERS WHO CHANGED THE ARMY

George Washington

George Washington was arguably the most influential American military leader, and certainly the Army’s.

There were greater military tacticians and more successful battlers, but no one else had such a lasting impact on the Army and the country.

It was his political adeptness, not just his war-fighting skills, that allowed Washington’s ragtag Army to defeat Britain’s superior forces. He had good relations with Europe, especially France, and managed to unite colonies with strong differences against a single enemy.

Small but crucial wins helped Washington raise morale within the Army. Decisive victories were beyond his reach, but proved unnecessary.

Friedrich von Steuben

If it weren’t for the long-lasting effects of his impressive abilities to train and polish the Continental Army, Friedrich von Steuben might have been remembered as a fraud.

Born in Prussia, the highest rank he achieved in his native army was captain, but he passed himself off as a lieutenant general when he offered his services to Gen. George Washington.

Washington put von Steuben in charge of training in 1778, and the Prussian is credited with instilling discipline in the citizen army and greatly increasing its effectiveness. He became a major general.

Von Steuben wrote “Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States,” a manual that was used until 1812.

Sylvanus Thayer

Known as the father of West Point, Sylvanus Thayer graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1808, and helped make it the respected institution it is today while serving as superintendent from 1817 to 1833.

After touring European military installations and schools, he reformed West Point, organizing the cadets into companies and establishing a rigorous academic curriculum.

Thayer’s mandates were controversial to some cadets who resented his strict discipline. He instituted weekly reports of cadet standing, and started summer encampments and the practice of having cadets recite daily in class. But Thayer’s superiors backed him until personal animosity between him and then-President Andrew Jackson made it futile, and Thayer resigned.

Winfield Scott

The early years of Winfield Scott’s long military career did not indicate the profound effect he ultimately would have on the Army and the country.

He dropped out of college, and joined a Virginia cavalry troop in 1807 out of patriotism. Later commissioned as a captain, he was court-martialed and suspended for one year from active duty for accusing his commander of being a traitor.

As a lieutenant colonel at the beginning of the War of 1812, Scott was captured by the British while trying to invade Canada from New York. He was released after three months.

By the age of 28, he was a brigadier general known for his drills, and for being exacting in dress and conduct, so much so that he was called “Old Fuss and Feathers.”

He was commanding general of the Army from 1841 to 1861, and was back in the field in 1847, leading the invasion into Mexico and ultimately capturing Mexico City. As a result, the United States gained land from Texas to California.

Elihu Root

Elihu Root was a lawyer, not a soldier. But as secretary of war under President William McKinley, he reorganized the War Department and vastly improved the Army’s readiness and strength.

Root established in 1901 what later became the Army War College and then the National War College. The position of Army Chief of Staff and the concept of rotating staff and line assignments also started under him.

Root later served as secretary of state under Theodore Roosevelt. He is credited with smoothing relations with Japan and Latin America, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1912.

He was elected to the Senate from New York, where he served from 1909 to 1915.

John McAuley Palmer

John Palmer challenged long-standing doctrine by consistently questioning the practicality of maintaining a skeleton peacetime army that could be expanded for war. He influenced the War Department to depart from that idea, proposing a smaller regular army that was ready to fight immediately. The regular army would be backed up by a citizen soldiery, under Palmer’s plan.

Opponents in the War Department favored a much larger regular army, but a compromise version of Palmer’s plan was codified in the National Defense Act of 1920. Under the act, citizen soldiers organized under the National Guard and the reserve system were to be the principal military, led and trained by their own officers.

Palmer’s belief in a citizen army was proved during World War II to be the wiser policy, compared to the approach of a regular, expandable army.

Adna Chaffee Jr.

Known as the father of the Armored Force, Adna Chaffee Jr. promoted the development of a mechanized armored striking force, including the tank, while assigned to the general staff.

He recommended forming completely mechanized regiments of tanks, motorized infantry and motorized guns — an idea that was only realized over time.

He had served in World War I with the American Expeditionary Force. As a colonel, Chaffee commanded the 1st Cavalry at Fort Knox, Ky., and conducted pioneering experimental work in mechanized warfare.

He was promoted to major general, and named chief of the Armored Force in 1940.

Lesley McNair

Lesley McNair is often overlooked as a prominent Army leader, but he did more to shape the World War II army than anyone else.

Beginning in 1940, McNair was commander of Army Ground Forces and its predecessor organization. He trained, organized and mobilized the entire army.

McNair went to Normandy, and was killed in 1944 by an American bomb that fell short of its target.

McNair’s approach to systematic training and combined arms fighting lingers today. He was central in the move to more mobile and flexible triangular divisions. He emphasized realistic training that simulated battle conditions, high physical fitness standards, proficiency tests and the importance of officers exhibiting leadership.

William DePuy

William DePuy’s career began when he received an ROTC commission as a second lieutenant in the infantry in 1941. During World War II, he served as an operations officer and battalion commander in fighting from Utah Beach through the Battle of the Bulge.

In Vietnam in 1966, he headed the 1st Infantry Division, known as “the Big Red One.” He made the division an agile unit that overwhelmed Vietcong concentrations with massive airmobile assets.

But DePuy is perhaps best remembered for his efforts while commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, where he helped create a new, innovative fighting doctrine for the Army. His wide-ranging and sometimes controversial changes in combat development and training sparked a debate that resulted in the widely accepted Air Land Battle doctrine.

John A. Wickham Jr.

John Wickham, Army chief of staff from 1983 to 1987, changed the way the Army dealt with Army families. Wickham saw Army families as key to improving retention and readiness. In 1993, he issued a white paper on the Army family that is considered a watershed document.

The paper informed soldiers, civilians, families, the chain of command, planners and others about the intention to develop an Army family action plan and a new partnership with families. The first action plan came out in January 1984. It identified 64 issues from the need for more day-care centers and stress counseling to job priority on bases for spouses. Every year since, a new family action plan has been issued to assess what has been accomplished, and which areas still need work.

Christy Harris