June 16, 2005

PETER PACE, USMC

The incoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the first Marine to hold that position. Peter Pace is one of the military leaders Tom Friedman has been condescending to and Sen. Durbin has been comparing to Pol Pot.

"...Born in Brooklyn, the son of an Italian immigrant, Pace had been raised in New Jersey. His military service had begun with the Naval Academy from which he graduated in 1967. A year later, after a year at The Basic School at Quantico, which molds all new second lieutenants, he was on his way to Vietnam. He arrived in time to be assigned as a platoon leader in Golf Company, 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, then involved in heavy fighting in the Battle for Hue City. It was an experience that marked him forever. He was the third platoon commander in as many weeks. When he joined it, there were only 14 men remaining in the platoon instead of the authorized 43. Under the glass on his desk he keeps a photo of Lance Corporal Guido Farinaro, the first Marine to die while under his command. There would be many more to die. After 37 years he can still reel off their names. He himself escaped unscathed in his 13 months of Vietnam combat.

Five days after the announcement of his nomination, honoring a commitment made almost a year earlier, he spoke to members of the senior class at West Point taking Law 403, Constitutional and Military Law. He told the cadets that he had worried over how he might perform in battle and that he "presumed that you are wondering about the same things." He reassured them, "If you feel fear, it is natural." He went on to say that soldiers want to follow their leaders: "They want you to be good. They will cling to leaders who care about them."

In a speech given a year or so ago to a group of veterans from the Battle for Hue, he said, "This is an amazing country. My dad was born in Italy. His son is the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. You can't do that any place else in the world." He soon will be able to amend that to read that as an immigrant's son, he is now the first Marine to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."
See the rest of the profile here.