Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Soldier and former supreme Allied commander during the Gulf War, known for leading Operation Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait.
On the island
Eight records
As a young man, when I first heard that, I liked it because it it it does portray uh uh a very simple truth, and that's the fact that nothing ever stays the same.
I love opera and this is very definitely one of the songs I listen to over and over and over again in the Gulf. So this is one that I definitely would listen to on that island.
This song is a beautiful song. It's it's a haunting song. It's a song that that starts with hope and ends in despair.
The Battle Hymn of the RepublicFavourite
There's a great deal of spiritualism. I as I say, I'm a spiritual person, and here is this is a relationship between God and man in battle, is what it is.
When I heard this song I just said 'That's why. That's the way I choose to live my life. It may be not something that other people understand, but this is really what it's all about.'
I'm a strong believer in education. I think that so many of the world's problems can be solved through education.
This is sort of the ultimate people watching song, but it's a happy song, it's a lively song, it's got great rhythm to it, and I listen to it and feel good.
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
I love my country. I've served my country all my life, and I'm very proud of my service to my country, and I'm very proud of my country. I personally think the greatest President we ever had was Abraham Lincoln.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:50What does the H in your name stand for?
H doesn't stand for anything, it's an initial only. My father's name was Herbert Norman Schwarzenkoff, and he hated the name Herbert. He always went by H. Norman in his young life. He went to West Point Military Academy, and when he entered, he was handed the standard military form that said first name, middle initial, last name. So he wrote down H. Norman. They threw it back in his face and said, can't you read that says first name, middle initial? He filled it out, Herbert N. And from there on out, throughout his entire life, every military form he ever had said Herbert N on it, although he went by Norman. So when I was born, my dad said, this young man is going to West Point, and he got his revenge. He named me H. Norman, and therefore I had only a person.
Presenter asks
2:14After 35 years in the US Army, how difficult is it to cope with retirement?
I jokingly tell people that retirement is more work and less people helping me. I mean, stop and think about it, a year and a half ago I had 541,000 people who are out there to help me, and now I have two. But it's not difficult for me because I've always known that my military life would be completed. In our military, you can retire at 20 years. Most people have to retire at 30 years. And some of us are lucky enough to stick around at 35. But even then, when you realize how old you were when you went in, how old you are when you're going to go out, you know that there's a lot of life after that, and therefore I've always understood that I was going to move on to something else.
The keepsakes
The book
Kahlil Gibran
It talks about love, it talks about death, it talks about business, it talks about marriage. It's a wonderful, wonderful part on children.
The luxury
Because my dog is usually inanimate and he has no socially redeeming graces whatsoever. He just lies next to my side.
Presenter asks
4:22How great is the frustration of being so far removed from the theatre of war in the command bunker in Riyadh?
Well, it's it's you know it it is it is terribly frustrating, you know, particularly when you've been there before yourself. Uh you want to be there again, you know, you you know what's happening and you you desperately want to be out there somehow uh helping and assisting and influencing the situation, and yet at the same time you realize that nothing would be more disruptive to the fellows that are out there really having to do the job to have this four-star general, you know, stomping around in their back yards at the time, you know, looking over they'd be constantly looking over their shoulder at me and rather than worrying about what they needed to be worried about.
Presenter asks
5:42Is it necessary to drum yourself up into a state of ferocity, telling your commanders to 'destroy' the enemy, in order to lead effectively in battle?
Well, I I I think that un the unfortunate thing about battle is reluctant reluctant warriors are are generally get themselves killed and a lot of other people killed. People who go into it piecemeal are the ones you know, you go back through history and you see that many of them are the ones that have suffered just incredible losses because their lack of aggressiveness, because they're their lack of the offensive spirit and that sort of thing.
Presenter asks
12:49You had a pretty chaotic early childhood because your father was away at war and your mother had a drink problem. Can you tell me about that?
My dad left when I had just turned eight and uh was gone for four years. Hi. If came home only uh twice, as I recall, during that four years, and then for very brief visits,'cause he'd be summoned back to Washington for something, and then he'd have to go off again. Uh the pressures on my mother were very great and she she became an alcoholic. Even as a teenager in Europe, I never missed an opportunity to be away from home. I used to. I didn't spend a lot of time at home because the evenings around the house were not a lot of fun, and so I was always out with my buddies one place or another, stayed out much later than I should have got in trouble a lot for staying out too late. Uh but it was escapism is what it was.
Presenter asks
27:21Your son Christian is fifteen. Is he destined for West Point like his father and grandfather?
No, no, I don't think so at all. At one time when he was a very little boy in school, they had to draw a picture of what they were going to be when they grew up, and he drew a picture of himself standing in front of a Jeep and said, General in the U.S. Army and brought him home. And of course, I was just ecstatic. He was five at the time. But since that time, he has not indicated any interest. And when people ask him if he's going to go to West Point and be an Army officer, he says, No. And frankly, I'm happy with that decision.
“I uh I am a religious man, and I believe very strongly there's no saying there are no atheists in foxholes. Let me assure you, there are no atheists in general's command bunkers either.”
“If you want to know the difference between being involved and being committed, think of a ham and egg breakfast, or a bacon and egg breakfast. The chicken is involved, but the pig's committed.”
“I always say that bravery is like beauty. It's in the eye of the beholder.”
“I will tell you, I was not being brave. I was frightened to death. It's the only time I can ever remember in my life that my legs were trembling. You know, the old saying about your knees knocking? My knees were knocking.”
“The important point to remember is: Saddam is irrelevant. Saddam, because he did attack a brother Arab and was handed a humiliating defeat, has lost face in Middle East politics.”
“I came back nine months later, and here this young man was standing at the bottom of the steps. He had grown six inches. His voice had dropped two octaves. He had discovered girls. And I missed the whole thing. And I really resent that.”