Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893–April 8, 1981), nicknamed Brad, was a highly distinguished senior officer of the United States Army who saw distinguished service in North Africa and Western Europe during World War II, and later became General of the Army. From the Normandy landings of June 6, 1944 through to the end of the war in Europe, Bradley had command of all U.S. ground forces invading Germany from the west; he ultimately commanded forty-three divisions and 1.3 million men, the largest body of American soldiers ever to serve under a single U.S. field commander. After the war, Bradley headed the Veterans Administration and became Army Chief of Staff. In 1949, Bradley was appointed the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the following year oversaw the policy-making for the Korean War, before retiring from active service in 1953. Bradley was the last of only nine people to hold a five-star rank in the United States Armed Forces. C (Click here for full Wikipedia article)
-----
A piece of paper makes you an officer, a radio makes you a commander.
Amateurs talk strategy. Professionals talk logistics.
Armed forces can wage wars but they cannot make peace.
Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.
Character is a sort of an all-inclusive thing. If a man has character, everyone has confidence in him.
Democracy can withstand ideological attacks if democracy will provide earnestly and liberally for the welfare of its people.
I am convinced that the best service a retired general can perform is to turn in his tongue along with his suit, and to mothball his opinions.
If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner.
Leadership is intangible, and therefore no weapon ever designed can replace it.
Our knowledge of science has clearly outstripped our capacity to control it.
Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship.
The burden of long-term total preparedness for some indefinite but inevitable war could not help but crush the freedom we prize.
The greatness of a leader is measured by the achievements of the led. This is the ultimate test of his effectiveness.
The second best decision in time is infinitely better than the perfect decision too late.
The way to win an atomic war is to make certain it never starts.
The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
This is as true in everyday life as it is in battle: we are given one life and the decision is ours whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind, or whether to act, and in acting, to live.
Wars can be prevented just as surely as they can be provoked, and we who fail to prevent them must share the guilt for the dead.
While as a prudent people we must prepare ourselves to encounter what we may be unable to prevent, we nevertheless must never surrender ourselves to the certainty of that encounter.
-----
(February 12 is also the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin , and Ray Kurzweil)
Categories: Omar Bradley, Quotes of the day
KGB Stuff Commentwear E-Mail KGB
Donate via PayPal
