Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
December 3, 2006
Pg. 1E
Georgian gets plum command
By Ron Martz
Less than 10 years ago, Lloyd Austin III was seriously considering retirement from the Army.
He had reached the rank of colonel after more than two decades in uniform, had served in several elite units, had commanded at every level from platoon to brigade but was wondering what more he could offer the military.
After a conversation with a senior enlisted soldier, Austin changed his mind. Now the former altar boy who was a star basketball player for Thomasville High School, down near the Florida border, is about to become one of the Army's top-ranking generals and take over one of its most prestigious commands.
On Friday, Austin will pin on his third star as a lieutenant general and take command of the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C. He will be the first Georgian and the first African-American to hold that post.
He also will be one of only three African-Americans among 59 officers in the top two ranks of the Army.
"I think any minority will tell you that they always feel they have to work a little bit harder," Austin, 53, said in a recent interview in his office at Central Command headquarters in Tampa, where he just wrapped up duties as chief of staff.
"Having said that, you can't get there if you're never given the opportunity," he added. "There are some folks that have worked hard to ensure folks like me have the opportunity to show what we can do."
Modest and publicity-shy, Austin is a relative unknown -- even in his hometown -- outside the insular ranks of the Army officer corps.
But within the ranks, he is known as an officer who leads his soldiers from the front and is fiercely loyal to his men.
"Guys who jump out of airplanes know they have to lead from the front. He grew up in that environment," said Lt. Gen. John Vines, the outgoing commander of the 18th Airborne Corps who said Austin was his first choice to replace him.
Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Charlie Thorpe, who twice served as Austin's senior enlisted soldier and helped talk him out of retirement, said his former boss was especially mindful of the welfare of his troops.
"Of all the commanders I've worked with, he's at the top of the list," said Thorpe, of Fayetteville, N.C. "It wasn't 'my way or the highway' with him. There was none of this zero-defects stuff. He was all into team building."
Little in Austin's background suggests he would one day be a senior military commander.
Born in Mobile, he was the fifth of six children and the first of two sons born to Lloyd Austin Sr., a postal worker, and his wife, Aletia.
"He was wonderful, and I think I know why," Aletia, 77, said of the son known in the family as "Jimmy" to differentiate him from his father. "I prayed so long for a boy. We were so thrilled to have him after four girls."
The family moved to Thomasville in 1961. The town is known for its annual rose parade and being the hometown of actress Joanne Woodward and at least seven professional athletes, including Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward.
It is also the birthplace of 2nd Lt. Henry O. Flipper, a former slave who was the first black student to graduate from West Point in 1877.
The 6-foot-3 Austin excelled in academics and sports at Thomasville High School before earning an appointment to West Point.
While at the military academy, Austin had as a squad leader a young cadet named John Abizaid. Now a four-star general, Abizaid leads Central Command with military responsibility for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
After graduating with a degree in science from West Point in 1975, the year his father died, Austin went on to serve in a series of light infantry and airborne divisions, including the 82nd Airborne, 3rd Infantry and 10th Mountain.
It was as a colonel commanding a brigade of about 4,000 paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne about 1999 that Austin began considering retirement. But, after talking to Thorpe, he reconsidered.
"I told him: 'You are what the Army needs right now. It's not about you. It's about what you bring to the fight. It's about what you bring to the soldiers'," Thorpe recalls.
After a stint at the Pentagon following the brigade command, Austin was promoted to brigadier general and assigned as assistant division commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart near Savannah, as it was gearing up for war in Iraq.
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Buford "Buff" Blount, then commander of the division, admitted he was a bit skeptical about the credentials of this paratrooper coming to a heavy mechanized infantry division.
But Blount, now living in Hattiesburg, Miss., said cross-fertilization of light infantry tactics with a mechanized division full of 70-ton M-1A1 Abrams tanks and 25-ton Bradley Fighting Vehicles enabled the division to be better prepared and respond more quickly to situations on its drive to Baghdad in the spring of 2003. Austin and his tactics were an asset, he said. "That 21-day attack into Iraq was a nonstop event for us," Blount said. "He helped give me the confidence of splitting our forces with him on the battlefield. Without his presence there, we would have been limited to some of the risks we took."
Austin was awarded the Silver Star for combat actions in Iraq, the third-highest military decoration. But his efforts went relatively unrecognized by the more than 600 embedded reporters covering the war and by those who have dissected it since.
"I'm not sure he's gotten the proper recognition for his role in that fight," Blount said. "He really was instrumental in the division's fight up to Baghdad. He was a commanding presence."
When Austin returned from Iraq in June 2003, he was promoted to major general, given command of the 10th Mountain Division based at Fort Drum, N.Y., and sent to Afghanistan for a year.
Austin now takes over an 18th Airborne Corps that is undergoing major changes. Where once the corps, headed by a three-star general, had command of Fort Bragg and about 88,000 soldiers in four divisions -- 3rd Infantry, 10th Mountain, 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne -- it is now losing its soldiers and being transformed into a deployable headquarters unit.
Under Austin, the corps will focus on commanding units in a combat zone without having to worry about infrastructure and troops at home. Austin said he is looking forward to the challenge of commanding the 18th Airborne Corps in its new configuration.
But the fact that he is the first African-American to head the unit is something he will let others champion.
"Being a first is not something I dwell on," he said. "I am always grateful to have the opportunity. It probably means a lot to a lot of other people. I'll focus on getting the job done."
December 3, 2006
Pg. 1E
Georgian gets plum command
By Ron Martz
Less than 10 years ago, Lloyd Austin III was seriously considering retirement from the Army.
He had reached the rank of colonel after more than two decades in uniform, had served in several elite units, had commanded at every level from platoon to brigade but was wondering what more he could offer the military.
After a conversation with a senior enlisted soldier, Austin changed his mind. Now the former altar boy who was a star basketball player for Thomasville High School, down near the Florida border, is about to become one of the Army's top-ranking generals and take over one of its most prestigious commands.
On Friday, Austin will pin on his third star as a lieutenant general and take command of the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C. He will be the first Georgian and the first African-American to hold that post.
He also will be one of only three African-Americans among 59 officers in the top two ranks of the Army.
"I think any minority will tell you that they always feel they have to work a little bit harder," Austin, 53, said in a recent interview in his office at Central Command headquarters in Tampa, where he just wrapped up duties as chief of staff.
"Having said that, you can't get there if you're never given the opportunity," he added. "There are some folks that have worked hard to ensure folks like me have the opportunity to show what we can do."
Modest and publicity-shy, Austin is a relative unknown -- even in his hometown -- outside the insular ranks of the Army officer corps.
But within the ranks, he is known as an officer who leads his soldiers from the front and is fiercely loyal to his men.
"Guys who jump out of airplanes know they have to lead from the front. He grew up in that environment," said Lt. Gen. John Vines, the outgoing commander of the 18th Airborne Corps who said Austin was his first choice to replace him.
Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Charlie Thorpe, who twice served as Austin's senior enlisted soldier and helped talk him out of retirement, said his former boss was especially mindful of the welfare of his troops.
"Of all the commanders I've worked with, he's at the top of the list," said Thorpe, of Fayetteville, N.C. "It wasn't 'my way or the highway' with him. There was none of this zero-defects stuff. He was all into team building."
Little in Austin's background suggests he would one day be a senior military commander.
Born in Mobile, he was the fifth of six children and the first of two sons born to Lloyd Austin Sr., a postal worker, and his wife, Aletia.
"He was wonderful, and I think I know why," Aletia, 77, said of the son known in the family as "Jimmy" to differentiate him from his father. "I prayed so long for a boy. We were so thrilled to have him after four girls."
The family moved to Thomasville in 1961. The town is known for its annual rose parade and being the hometown of actress Joanne Woodward and at least seven professional athletes, including Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward.
It is also the birthplace of 2nd Lt. Henry O. Flipper, a former slave who was the first black student to graduate from West Point in 1877.
The 6-foot-3 Austin excelled in academics and sports at Thomasville High School before earning an appointment to West Point.
While at the military academy, Austin had as a squad leader a young cadet named John Abizaid. Now a four-star general, Abizaid leads Central Command with military responsibility for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
After graduating with a degree in science from West Point in 1975, the year his father died, Austin went on to serve in a series of light infantry and airborne divisions, including the 82nd Airborne, 3rd Infantry and 10th Mountain.
It was as a colonel commanding a brigade of about 4,000 paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne about 1999 that Austin began considering retirement. But, after talking to Thorpe, he reconsidered.
"I told him: 'You are what the Army needs right now. It's not about you. It's about what you bring to the fight. It's about what you bring to the soldiers'," Thorpe recalls.
After a stint at the Pentagon following the brigade command, Austin was promoted to brigadier general and assigned as assistant division commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart near Savannah, as it was gearing up for war in Iraq.
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Buford "Buff" Blount, then commander of the division, admitted he was a bit skeptical about the credentials of this paratrooper coming to a heavy mechanized infantry division.
But Blount, now living in Hattiesburg, Miss., said cross-fertilization of light infantry tactics with a mechanized division full of 70-ton M-1A1 Abrams tanks and 25-ton Bradley Fighting Vehicles enabled the division to be better prepared and respond more quickly to situations on its drive to Baghdad in the spring of 2003. Austin and his tactics were an asset, he said. "That 21-day attack into Iraq was a nonstop event for us," Blount said. "He helped give me the confidence of splitting our forces with him on the battlefield. Without his presence there, we would have been limited to some of the risks we took."
Austin was awarded the Silver Star for combat actions in Iraq, the third-highest military decoration. But his efforts went relatively unrecognized by the more than 600 embedded reporters covering the war and by those who have dissected it since.
"I'm not sure he's gotten the proper recognition for his role in that fight," Blount said. "He really was instrumental in the division's fight up to Baghdad. He was a commanding presence."
When Austin returned from Iraq in June 2003, he was promoted to major general, given command of the 10th Mountain Division based at Fort Drum, N.Y., and sent to Afghanistan for a year.
Austin now takes over an 18th Airborne Corps that is undergoing major changes. Where once the corps, headed by a three-star general, had command of Fort Bragg and about 88,000 soldiers in four divisions -- 3rd Infantry, 10th Mountain, 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne -- it is now losing its soldiers and being transformed into a deployable headquarters unit.
Under Austin, the corps will focus on commanding units in a combat zone without having to worry about infrastructure and troops at home. Austin said he is looking forward to the challenge of commanding the 18th Airborne Corps in its new configuration.
But the fact that he is the first African-American to head the unit is something he will let others champion.
"Being a first is not something I dwell on," he said. "I am always grateful to have the opportunity. It probably means a lot to a lot of other people. I'll focus on getting the job done."
