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On July 16, 1921, Bernard W. Rogers, United States Army general who served as the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, was born in Fairview, Kansas (d. 2008).
My SACEUR commander. Many of us served under General Rogers.
My SACEUR commander. Many of us served under General Rogers.
Bernard W. Rogers - Wikipedia
Posted from en.m.wikipedia.org
World History
American History
Military History
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Edited 6 y ago
Posted 6 y ago
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He was SACEUR when we had our first European tour. He was a bit of a maverick but well respected by the troops
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SGT (Join to see)
He and General Kroesen were quite the team. I also served with General Vuono, my Division Commander, and General Burba who was in my Battalion/Brigade. Great group of combat leaders!
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IL SIGNORE DELLA GUERRA: BERNARD W. ROGERS (1)
Bernard W. Rogers (1921-2008) è stato dal 1979 al 1987 il comandante supremo delle Forze Alleate in Europa (NATO), nonchè il comandate di tutte le forze amer...
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that July 16 is the anniversary of the birth of United States Army general who served as the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe [SACEUR] Bernard William Rogers.
Rest in peace Bernard William Rogers.
I was stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany [Feb 1981- July 1984] while he was SACEUR
Image: 1987 PRESS_RELEASE announcing appointment of General Bernard Rogers as SACEUR Commander__87_3_BIL_141; 1943 USMA First Captain Bernard W. Rogers.
He was graduate number 13,459 from my alma mater- USMA, West Point in the June Class of 1943.
[for comparison I am USMA graduate number 37,403 and the last member of the USMA class of 2015 is number 72.406]
He was commissioned in the infantry. He was awarded a bronze star in the Korean war while serving as brigade commander of the 9th Infantry Regiment. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and DFC, BSM with v device and 36 air medals in the Vietnam War while serving as assistant division commander for 1st Infantry Division in 1966.
Background from washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/06/AR [login to see] 900.html
"Bernard W. Rogers, 87, a four-star general who introduced major reforms as Army chief of staff in the 1970s and who later was the top military commander of NATO, died Oct. 27[,2008] at Inova Fairfax Hospital after a heart attack. He lived in McLean.
After bringing changes in recruiting and training to an Army whose morale had been depleted by the Vietnam War, Gen. Rogers became the longest serving military chief in NATO's six-decade history.
He strengthened the transatlantic military alliance's presence throughout Europe and, according to a 1985 Business Week article, was "widely viewed as the most effective NATO chief since the first, Dwight D. Eisenhower."
He replaced Alexander M. Haig Jr. as supreme allied commander in Europe in 1979 and was elected to an unprecedented four two-year terms as NATO's military leader. Gen. Rogers repeatedly warned against relaxing Western military readiness in the face of what he saw as a powerful Soviet threat. He instituted a new doctrine of warfare emphasizing mobile, high-impact strikes that has since become a dominant military strategy.
When the Reagan administration signed a treaty with the Soviet Union requiring each side to withdraw intermediate-range missiles from Europe, Gen. Rogers called the agreement "foolish." He said the Warsaw Pact's superiority in foot soldiers and conventional weapons left NATO forces at risk of being quickly overrun.
His stance drew a pointed rebuke in 1987 from Secretary of State George P. Shultz, who called the general's comments "way out of line." Gen. Rogers soon retired.
Gen. Rogers, who spent 44 years in uniform, had an unusual combination of talents as a combat commander, intellectual and statesman. While addressing a NATO conference in 1979, the former Rhodes scholar said, "One cannot help but to be impressed -- perhaps depressed is the better word -- by the folly, futility and waste of war as a means of resolving man's problems."
Bernard William Rogers was born June 16, 1921, in Fairview, Kan., and graduated in 1943 from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he was elected first captain of cadets.
After World War II, he was briefly an aide to Gen. Mark Clark, the commander of U.S. forces in Austria. In 1947, Gen. Rogers received a Rhodes scholarship to England's University of Oxford, from which he received bachelor's and master's degrees in economics and philosophy.
He was a decorated infantry commander in the Korean War and held intelligence positions before becoming executive officer to Maxwell D. Taylor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in 1962.
As assistant commander of the First Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1966 and 1967, Gen. Rogers was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross -- the Army's highest award for valor after the Medal of Honor -- for leading a successful counterattack against a Vietcong raid on a South Vietnamese special forces camp. He rallied troops on the ground and personally scouted enemy positions from a low-flying helicopter under heavy fire.
After two years as commandant of the corps of cadets at West Point, Gen. Rogers took command of the Fifth Infantry Regiment in Fort Carson, Colo., in 1969. At a time of falling morale, he made sweeping changes in the daily routine of soldiers by abolishing kitchen duty (KP), reveille, roll call and Friday night "GI parties," in which soldiers scrubbed the barracks for Saturday inspections.
He established councils for junior officers, enlisted men and racial minorities to express their concerns and set up a Greenwich Village-style coffeehouse, complete with folk singers. Old-line officers were aghast, but enlistments soared, and Gen. Rogers became known as one of the brightest thinkers in the Army. He continued the reforms as Army chief of staff from 1976 to 1979, improving training programs and developing plans for a modern "quick-strike" force. He also took steps to make the Army more friendly toward women and minorities, calling on commanders to "eliminate any discriminatory handling of soldiers."
Despite his charmed career, Gen. Rogers was eager to leave the bureaucratic labyrinth of the Pentagon behind when he assumed his NATO post in Belgium.
"You've heard that phrase from a country song that goes: 'Happiness is Lubbock, Texas, in the rearview mirror'?" he said. "Well, for me, happiness is the Pentagon in the rearview mirror."
Gen. Rogers could be "suave and poised and intimidating," Maj. Gen. Dewitt C. Smith once said, but he was also known to break into song on occasion, with Frank Sinatra's "My Way" a particular favorite.
Besides the Distinguished Service Cross, Gen. Rogers's decorations included the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, four awards of the Legion of Merit and three awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After his retirement in 1987, he was a director of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Atlantic Council of the United States. He served on the boards of the USO and the Association of the U.S. Army and was a consultant and director to several companies, including Coca-Cola and General Dynamics.
Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Ann E. Rogers of McLean; three children, retired Army Col. Michael W. Rogers of Manassas, Diane Opperman of Arlington and Susan Kroetch of Alexandria; a sister; a brother; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren."
The only video I could find was in Italian
Bernard W. Rogers (1921-2008) è stato dal 1979 al 1987 il comandante supremo delle Forze Alleate in Europa (NATO), nonchè il comandate di tutte le forze americane.
In questo speciale realizzato nel 1983 il cosiddetto Signore della Guerra viene intervistato da Peter Nichols corrispondente a Roma per il Times di Londra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4Gi_QAZhhs&t=85s
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Orlando Illi Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price CPT Jack Durish Capt Tom Brown CMSgt (Join to see) MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see) Sgt Albert Castro SSG David Andrews Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. SGT Charles H. Hawes SGT Mark Halmrast SPC Margaret Higgins PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
Rest in peace Bernard William Rogers.
I was stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany [Feb 1981- July 1984] while he was SACEUR
Image: 1987 PRESS_RELEASE announcing appointment of General Bernard Rogers as SACEUR Commander__87_3_BIL_141; 1943 USMA First Captain Bernard W. Rogers.
He was graduate number 13,459 from my alma mater- USMA, West Point in the June Class of 1943.
[for comparison I am USMA graduate number 37,403 and the last member of the USMA class of 2015 is number 72.406]
He was commissioned in the infantry. He was awarded a bronze star in the Korean war while serving as brigade commander of the 9th Infantry Regiment. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and DFC, BSM with v device and 36 air medals in the Vietnam War while serving as assistant division commander for 1st Infantry Division in 1966.
Background from washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/06/AR [login to see] 900.html
"Bernard W. Rogers, 87, a four-star general who introduced major reforms as Army chief of staff in the 1970s and who later was the top military commander of NATO, died Oct. 27[,2008] at Inova Fairfax Hospital after a heart attack. He lived in McLean.
After bringing changes in recruiting and training to an Army whose morale had been depleted by the Vietnam War, Gen. Rogers became the longest serving military chief in NATO's six-decade history.
He strengthened the transatlantic military alliance's presence throughout Europe and, according to a 1985 Business Week article, was "widely viewed as the most effective NATO chief since the first, Dwight D. Eisenhower."
He replaced Alexander M. Haig Jr. as supreme allied commander in Europe in 1979 and was elected to an unprecedented four two-year terms as NATO's military leader. Gen. Rogers repeatedly warned against relaxing Western military readiness in the face of what he saw as a powerful Soviet threat. He instituted a new doctrine of warfare emphasizing mobile, high-impact strikes that has since become a dominant military strategy.
When the Reagan administration signed a treaty with the Soviet Union requiring each side to withdraw intermediate-range missiles from Europe, Gen. Rogers called the agreement "foolish." He said the Warsaw Pact's superiority in foot soldiers and conventional weapons left NATO forces at risk of being quickly overrun.
His stance drew a pointed rebuke in 1987 from Secretary of State George P. Shultz, who called the general's comments "way out of line." Gen. Rogers soon retired.
Gen. Rogers, who spent 44 years in uniform, had an unusual combination of talents as a combat commander, intellectual and statesman. While addressing a NATO conference in 1979, the former Rhodes scholar said, "One cannot help but to be impressed -- perhaps depressed is the better word -- by the folly, futility and waste of war as a means of resolving man's problems."
Bernard William Rogers was born June 16, 1921, in Fairview, Kan., and graduated in 1943 from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he was elected first captain of cadets.
After World War II, he was briefly an aide to Gen. Mark Clark, the commander of U.S. forces in Austria. In 1947, Gen. Rogers received a Rhodes scholarship to England's University of Oxford, from which he received bachelor's and master's degrees in economics and philosophy.
He was a decorated infantry commander in the Korean War and held intelligence positions before becoming executive officer to Maxwell D. Taylor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in 1962.
As assistant commander of the First Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1966 and 1967, Gen. Rogers was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross -- the Army's highest award for valor after the Medal of Honor -- for leading a successful counterattack against a Vietcong raid on a South Vietnamese special forces camp. He rallied troops on the ground and personally scouted enemy positions from a low-flying helicopter under heavy fire.
After two years as commandant of the corps of cadets at West Point, Gen. Rogers took command of the Fifth Infantry Regiment in Fort Carson, Colo., in 1969. At a time of falling morale, he made sweeping changes in the daily routine of soldiers by abolishing kitchen duty (KP), reveille, roll call and Friday night "GI parties," in which soldiers scrubbed the barracks for Saturday inspections.
He established councils for junior officers, enlisted men and racial minorities to express their concerns and set up a Greenwich Village-style coffeehouse, complete with folk singers. Old-line officers were aghast, but enlistments soared, and Gen. Rogers became known as one of the brightest thinkers in the Army. He continued the reforms as Army chief of staff from 1976 to 1979, improving training programs and developing plans for a modern "quick-strike" force. He also took steps to make the Army more friendly toward women and minorities, calling on commanders to "eliminate any discriminatory handling of soldiers."
Despite his charmed career, Gen. Rogers was eager to leave the bureaucratic labyrinth of the Pentagon behind when he assumed his NATO post in Belgium.
"You've heard that phrase from a country song that goes: 'Happiness is Lubbock, Texas, in the rearview mirror'?" he said. "Well, for me, happiness is the Pentagon in the rearview mirror."
Gen. Rogers could be "suave and poised and intimidating," Maj. Gen. Dewitt C. Smith once said, but he was also known to break into song on occasion, with Frank Sinatra's "My Way" a particular favorite.
Besides the Distinguished Service Cross, Gen. Rogers's decorations included the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, four awards of the Legion of Merit and three awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After his retirement in 1987, he was a director of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Atlantic Council of the United States. He served on the boards of the USO and the Association of the U.S. Army and was a consultant and director to several companies, including Coca-Cola and General Dynamics.
Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Ann E. Rogers of McLean; three children, retired Army Col. Michael W. Rogers of Manassas, Diane Opperman of Arlington and Susan Kroetch of Alexandria; a sister; a brother; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren."
The only video I could find was in Italian
Bernard W. Rogers (1921-2008) è stato dal 1979 al 1987 il comandante supremo delle Forze Alleate in Europa (NATO), nonchè il comandate di tutte le forze americane.
In questo speciale realizzato nel 1983 il cosiddetto Signore della Guerra viene intervistato da Peter Nichols corrispondente a Roma per il Times di Londra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4Gi_QAZhhs&t=85s
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Orlando Illi Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price CPT Jack Durish Capt Tom Brown CMSgt (Join to see) MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see) Sgt Albert Castro SSG David Andrews Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. SGT Charles H. Hawes SGT Mark Halmrast SPC Margaret Higgins PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
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