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Joe Frazar Luncheon

BGEN Joe Frazar, USA (Ret), USNA '65, Speaks at Chapter September 2003 Luncheon

Our guest speaker at the September Chapter luncheon was BGEN Joe N. Frazar, III, USA (Ret.) USNA '65. Brigadier General Frazar is an Atlanta Chapter member and serves on the Chapter Board of Directors.

Though a graduate of the Naval Academy, Joe spent his commissioned career in the Army. To make a long story short, Joe would get sea sick standing on a YP tied to the seawall at the Academy. Out to sea was out of the question!

Having graduated from the New Mexico Military Institute, he was not without Army experience. During his exchange week at West Point as a Midshipman, he made that point clear by volunteering to take a test in a tactics class that he sat in on. He got a 95 and set the curve for the grading of that exam! A result not well received by the Woops!

Joe said that there was a lot of kidding and various other highjinks that went on as a result of him being an Army officer, yet a Naval Academy grad as well. When he was Chief of Staff, 24th Infantry Division in Fort Stewart, Georgia, there was a running bet on the Army Navy football game. (Joe was always torn between cheering for one side or the other, changing sides each year. But after trying that for a while he just decided that he needed to cheer for Navy all the time!) At any rate, the bet was that the loser would have to serve tables for a the other side.

Joe’s career saw 23 moves for himself and 17 moves for his family! All in 31 years! Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “Join the Army and see the World”!

Joe did two tours of duty in Vietnam. His first tour was from June of ‘66 to June of ’67 as Executive Officer, Company H, 2d Squadron, 11th Armored Calvary Regiment. His second tour was from June of ’69 to March of ’70 as Commander, Headquarters Troop, 3d Squadron, 5th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Brigade, 5th Infantry Division and from March of ’70 to July of ’70 as Assistant S-3 (Operations & Plans), 1st Infantry Brigade, 5th Infantry Division.

Joe said that Vietnam was a platoon leader’s war. He also said that the disciplinary problems in the Army were cleaned up after Vietnam with the advent of the all-volunteer Army. The Abram’s Doctrine came out of Vietnam as well, the basic tenant of which is that only fighting units were in the regular Army, while support units were in the Reserves.

After Vietnam, Joe was General’s Aide to General George Pickett, Deputy Commanding General, 3d United States Army in Fort McPherson, Georgia. One of Joe’s favorite stories about General Pickett was an incident that happened while shopping for gifts for their wives at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta. It seems that General Pickett was a frugal man and not prone to buying extravagant gifts for his wife. None the less, perfume was purchased for the wives during that shopping trip. After the purchase there was an opportunity to have a picture taken in various costumes in front of a suitable backdrop. Both were in civilian attire at the time, by the way. Somehow these two Army officers found themselves dressed and posed by a very young girl who was in charge of the photo shoot. The General selected an available old-time military outfit for his costume photo. The problem was that it was just a bit small for him and the buttons kept popping open on the front of the uniform. After unsuccessful attempts to take the photo because of button problems, the young girl in charge confronted the General and in a stern voice said “Come on, suck in your gut, throw your shoulders back, and try to look like a soldier!” The General, of course, instructed his aide not to whisper a word of this to anyone back at the base. Needless to say, it was only a matter of minutes before the story was “leaked” by a anonymous source. It was just too good not to share!

Joe was involved in the wars in Iraq. He called Operation Desert Storm a General’s war, and by contrast, he called Operation Iraqi Freedom a civilian’s/politician’s war. Regarding both wars, Joe stressed that you can’t win a war without soldiers and marines on the ground occupying land.

According to Joe, the mission of Operation Desert Storm was to defeat the Iraqi army, destroy the Republican Guard, and force the Iraqi troops out of Kuwait. As a General’s war it was carried out with precision and skill, and the mission accomplished. Around 250,000 reservists were involved in Operation Desert Storm. Joe was the Chief of Staff of the 24^th Division (now the 3^rd Infantry). It took $45 million just to deploy it!

Operation Iraqi Freedom, on the other hand, used a tactic of “exploitation” in which enemy units were bypassed or left in place once mostly defeated, while the troops then pushed forward toward the next front/battle toward the main objective. Joe called this a maneuver scheme. The problem with it was that this tactic requires supports troops to be moved up under armed guard, but in many cases they were not. The result was that support troops were killed in action and taken prisoners-of-war, such as the support unit that Jessica Lynch served in.

In the fall of 1997, General Frazar was inducted into the New Mexico Military Institute Hall of Fame. Joe and his father are the only father-son alumni of NMMI to gain flag rank.

Many thanks to Joe for sharing his interesting military career with us. For a biography of BGEN Frazar, click on:

Joe Frazar Bio

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Chapter President Bill Rentz '55, presents Joe Frazar '65, his personalized Atlanta Chapter apron.

Bill Brewster '42, reported the highlights of his recent Academy sponsored Alaska cruise with his wife.