Into the Storm (1997) is Tom Clancy's first book in his study of command series. Clancy traces the organizational success story of the U.S. Army's rise since the Vietnam War. It is also a partial biography of General Frederick M. Franks, Jr., who is considered to be a military visionary and a distinguished combat commander, famous for having led the Gulf War coalition VII Corps in the highly successful "Left Hook" maneuver against fourteen Iraqi divisions of the Iraqi Republican Guard, forcing a retreat with fewer than 100 American casualties lost to enemy action — a feat unmatched in modern warfare. The book also describes the transformation of the U.S. Army, traumatized by the Vietnam War, and Franks' devastating loss of a leg in that war. Franks became the first amputee active-duty general since the American Civil War. The book is mostly written by Tom Clancy with sections where he uses General Frank's own words. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Storm_%E2%80%93_On_the_Ground_in_Iraq Frederick Melvin Franks, Jr. (born 1 November 1936) is a retired General of the United States Army. He is considered a military visionary and a distinguished combat commander, famous for having commanded the Gulf War coalition VII Corps in the highly successful "Left Hook" maneuver against fourteen Iraqi divisions, a number of whom were Iraqi Republican Guard, defeating or forcing the retreat of each with fewer than 100 American casualties lost to enemy action, a feat unmatched in modern warfare. Following his duty at West Point, Franks rejoined the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment,serving with the unit in Vietnam. In a period of intense combat, he earned the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star with V Device, the Air Medal, and two Purple Hearts. While fighting in Cambodia he was severely wounded, and after a series of unsuccessful surgeries, lost his left leg, which was amputated below the knee. Franks fought to remain in a combat unit, something not normally granted amputees, and was eventually permitted to remain in combat arms. Through the 1980s Franks served with the Army Staff in the Pentagon, commanded 1st Squadron, 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Bliss, served in the Office of the Army Chief of Staff, spent a year at the national War College, held several high-level positions in the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command, and, finally, commanded the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, assigned to the East German frontier as the V Corps covering force. Following his promotion to brigadier general in 1984, his flag-level assignments included Commanding General, Seventh Army Training Command, Deputy Commanding General, United States Army Command and General Staff College, and Director of Operational Plans and Interoperability (J-7), where he effectively integrated, for the first time, all joint staff operational planning, interoperability and warfighting functions within a single directorate of the Joint Staff, resulting in significant increases in the joint warfighting capabilities of the United States. In 1988, Franks again returned to Germany to command the 1st Armored Division, and a year later he assumed command of VII Corps. In early November, 1990, Franks was ordered to deploy the VII Corps to Saudi Arabia to join the international coalition preparing to drive Iraqi forces from Kuwait; and on 24 February 1991, the Desert Storm land assault began, with VII Corps making the main attack. VII Corps consisted of 146,000 American and British soldiers in essentially 5 armored divisions (one was a mechanized infantry division and one was a cavalry division). This consisted of close to 1600 tanks, American and British, and 800 helicopters. Supporting this was its support command and vital logistics support command comprising over 26,000 soldiers and 15 hospitals. In total, VII Corps consumed over 2 million gallons of fuel a day. In 100 hours of rapid maneuver and combat, VII Corps fought several engagements with Iraqi forces. Under Franks' leadership, VII Corps units gained decisive victories at the Battle of Al Busayyah, the Battle of 73 Easting, the Battle of Norfolk and the Battle of Medina Ridge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_M._Franks,_Jr.

• published: 29 Jan 2014
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