Frederick M. Franks, Jr.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frederick M. Franks
General Frederick M. Franks
Place of birth	West Lawn, Pennsylvania
Allegiance	U.S. Army
Years of service	1959-1994
Rank	General
Commands	VII Corps Training and Doctrine Command
Battles/wars	Vietnam War Desert Storm
Awards	Silver Star Distinguished Flying Cross Bronze Star with V Device Air Medals (43) Purple Hearts (2)
Other work	Board of Directors, Oshkosh Truck Corporation author

Frederick M. Franks, Jr. is a retired General of the United States Army. He is considered a military visionary and a distinguished combat commander, famous for having commanded the Gulf War coalition VII Corps in the highly successful "Hail Mary" maneuver against fourteen Iraqi divisions, a number of whom were Iraqi Republican Guard, defeating or forcing the retreat of each with fewer than 100 American casualties lost to enemy action, a feat unmatched in modern warfare.

Born Frederick M. Franks, Jr. in West Lawn, Pennsylvania. Fred Franks graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1959. After attending the Armor Officer Basic Course, Airborne, and Ranger training, he joined the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Germany. This was followed by an assignment as an instructor at West Point in the 1960s. Following his duty at West Point, Franks rejoined the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, now stationed in Vietnam. In a period of intense combat, Fred Franks earned the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star with V Device, forty three Air Medals, and two Purple Hearts. While fighting in Cambodia he was severely wounded, and after a series of unsuccessful surgeries, lost his left leg, which was amputated below the knee. His next battle was to remain in a combat unit, something not normally granted amputees, it was a battle from which Fred Franks emerged victorious.

Through the 1980s Franks served with the Army Staff in the Pentagon, command of the 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Bliss, served in the Office of the Army Chief of Staff, spent a year at the national War College, held several high-level positions in the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command, and finally, command of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, then assigned to the East German frontier as the V Corps covering force.

Following his promotion to brigadier general, in 1984, his flag-level assignments included commanding General, Seventh Army Training Command, Deputy Commanding General, United States Army Command and General Staff College, and Director of Operational Plans and Interoperability (J-7), where he effectively integrated, for the first time, all joint staff operational planning, interoperability and warfighting functions within a single directorate of the Joint Staff, resulting in significant increases in the joint warfighting capabilities of the United States. In 1988, General Franks again returned to Germany to command the 1st Armored Division, and a year later he assumed command of the VII United States Army Corps.

In early November, 1990, General Franks was ordered to deploy the Corps to Saudi Arabia to join the international coalition preparing to drive Iraqi forces from Kuwait; and on 24 February 1991, the Desert Storm land assault began, with VII Corps making the main attack. VII Corps consisted of 146,000 American and British soldiers in essentially 5 armored divisions (one was a mechanized infantry division and one was a cavalry division). This consisted of close to 1600 tanks, American and British, and 800 helicopters. Supporting this was its support command and vital logistics support command comprising over 26,000 soldiers and 15 hospitals. In total, VII Corps consumed over 2 million gallons of fuel a day. In 100 hours of rapid maneuver and combat, VII Corps fought and won a great battle in the desert sands of Iraq. Under General Franks' leadership, VII Corps units gained decisive victories at the Battle of Al Busayyah, the Battle of 73 Easting, the Battle of Norfolk and the Battle of Medina Ridge.

Controversy arose during and after the ground war over the pace at which the VII Corps advanced. On the second day of the ground war General Norman Schwarzkopf publicly expressed frustration over what he characterized as VII Corps' slow pace, allowing elements of the Republican Guard to escape destruction by fleeing toward Basra. General Schwarzkopf said that "The window of opportunity is rapidly slamming shut." Certain Victory, the official Army summary on the war, said, "By the 28th (of February, the third day of the ground war), with the exception of the Hammurabi Division, the majority of the remaining Guard armor had already reached or passed through the Basra sanctuary en route to positions well inside Iraq." Franks tells the story in his own words in the book, written with Tom Clancy, Into the Storm, which contradicts some arguments made by Schwarzkopf in his own autobiography It Doesn't Take a Hero.

Following the Gulf War General Franks was promoted to 4-star General, and took over the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. General Franks retired in 1994 after almost 35 1/2 years of active Army service. He now serves as chairman of the board of the VII Corps Desert Storm Veterans Association, that is devoted to assisting veterans and next of kin of those who served in VII Corps during Desert Storm. He has also collaborated with Tom Clancy on a book, Into the Storm: a Study in Command. He works with the U. S. Army's Battle Command Training Program for senior tactical commanders and staffs teaching battle command in seminars and simulated war games. He also works as a consultant, speaks publicly on leadership, and teaches senior level battle command at military schools in the United States and United Kingdom. He serves on the Board of Directors of Oshkosh Truck Corporation, Customer Advisory Board for United Defense Corporation, and the Board of Trustees of the US Military Academy.