Pubdate: Fri, 15 Nov 2002
Source: Fayetteville Observer-Times (NC)
Copyright: 2002 Fayetteville Observer-Times
Contact:  http://www.fayettevillenc.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/150
Author: Henry Cuningham, Military editor

SPECIAL FORCES GRADUATE

For years, retired Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker has carried a picture of the 
wreckage of U.S. helicopters in the Iranian desert from the failed 
hostage-rescue mission in 1980.

''Underneath that, I had a thing that said, 'Never confuse enthusiasm with 
capability,''' Schoomaker said.

The retired four-star general spoke Friday to Special Forces Qualification 
Course graduates and their families at Reeves Auditorium on the Methodist 
College campus. The graduates will soon be on the front lines of the drug 
war in Latin America and the war on terrorism in Asia and the Philippines. 
The class included officers and sergeants with extensive training in 
weapons, engineering, medicine and communications. The graduates included 
the first five soldiers in recent years who were directly recruited out of 
infantry basic training and went through the entire course.

Rescue party

Schoomaker and William G. Boykin were members of the rescue party who 
escaped the refueling site known as Desert One after a fiery aircraft 
accident left eight rescuers dead. Boykin is now a two-star general and 
commander of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. The 
center and school oversee the entry-level training of Special Forces 
soldiers, often known as Green Berets.

''Gen. Boykin and I stood on the ground in Iran many years ago on a long 
night in April 1980, trying to serve this nation on an important task,'' 
Schoomaker said. ''The fact of the matter is, the nation didn't have the 
capability to get there and pull it off.''

Schoomaker and Boykin in 1978 became some of the original members of the 
Delta Force, which was established at Fort Bragg to give the Army the 
capability to fight terrorism and rescue hostages. Among problems that 
surfaced in the Iranian desert were a lack of coordination among the armed 
services in the area of special operations and an inability to get a strike 
force into hostile territory over long distances.

However, military leaders credit the disaster with motivating the United 
States to pump money into special operations during the 1980s. Schoomaker, 
who was a major at the time of Desert One, became a general and was the 
leader of three special operations commands created to remedy the 
shortfalls - the Joint Special Operations Command and U.S. Army Special 
Operations Command at Fort Bragg and U.S. Special Operations Command at 
Tampa, Fla.

''His retirement responsibilities are probably as great or greater than 
what he was doing when he was still on active duty,'' Boykin said. ''He 
continues to serve in a variety of capacities, working with our military, 
working with the Defense Department on a lot of projects to help continue 
this momentum that SOF (special operations forces) started, really, under 
his leadership.''

Staff photo by Steve Aldridge Special Forces soldiers put on their green 
berets during the Special Forces graduation ceremony at Reeves Auditorium 
at Methodist College.

Schoomaker said, ''There's always room for enthusiasm and motivation, but 
it's not worth a rip if it's not backed up by capability,'' Schoomaker 
said. ''You don't get that capability without working very, very, very hard 
to get it. You've got to push all the time to the edge to ensure that 
you've got the kind of things the nation will call upon you to do.''

'Quiet professionals'

Special Forces and special operations soldiers undergo rigorous tests for 
intellect and physical training. Then they receive months of training.

Special operations soldiers, who often work in small groups on low-profile 
and secret missions, call themselves the ''quiet professionals.''

''So when I'm talking about quiet professionalism, I'm talking about a 
quiet competence,'' Schoomaker said. ''I'm talking about a community that 
is not chest-beaters, that is not dragging its knuckles. It is thoughtful. 
It is value-based and is competent, so that when it's called upon to play, 
it will perform to the expectations of the nation.''
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