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First Name: Tommy

Last Name: Franks

Birthplace: Wynnewood, OK, USA

Gender: Male

Branch: Army (1784 - present)



Middle Name: Ray



Date of Birth: 17 June 1945



Rank: General

Years Served: 1965-2003
Tommy Ray Franks

   
Engagements:
•  Vietnam War (1960 - 1973)
•  Gulf War (1990 - 1991)
•  Afghanistan War (Operation Enduring Freedom) (2001 - present)
•  Iraq War (Operation Iraqi Freedom) (2003 - 2011)

Biography:

Tommy Ray Franks
General, U.S. Army

Tommy Ray Franks was born Tommy Ray Bentley on 17 June 1945 in Wynnewood, OK, where he was adopted by Ray and Lorene "Pete" Parker Franks. Tommy Franks graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in Midland, TX, one year ahead of future First Lady Laura Bush. He attended the University of Texas at Austin where he was a brother of Delta Upsilon International Fraternity. He dropped out of college after two years due to subpar grades and lack of motivation. In 1965, Franks decided to give himself a "jolt" and joined the U.S. Army, reportedly nursing a hangover while at the local recruiter's office.

Military Career

After Franks enlisted in the Army in 1965, he attended Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood, MO, and received his Advanced Individual Training as a cryptologic analyst at Fort Devens, MA. Standing out amongst his peers in outstanding marksmanship and leadership qualities, PFC Franks was selected to attend the Artillery and Missile Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill, OK. He graduated and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Field Artillery in 1967. After an initial tour as a Battery Assistant Executive Officer at Fort Sill, he was assigned to the U.S. 9th Infantry Division, Republic of Vietnam, where he served as Forward Observer, Aerial Observer, and Assistant S-3 with 2nd Battalion, 4th Field Artillery. He also served as Fire Direction Officer and Fire Support Officer with 5th Battalion (Mechanized), 60th Infantry during this tour.

In 1968, Franks returned to Fort Sill, where he commanded a cannon battery in the Artillery Training Center. In 1969, he was selected to participate in the Army's "Boot Strap Degree Completion Program," and subsequently attended the University of Texas at Arlington, where he finished his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1971. Following attendance at the Artillery Officer Advanced Course, he was assigned to the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in West Germany in 1973, where he commanded the 1st Squadron Howitzer Battery and served as Squadron S-3. He also commanded the 84th Armored Engineer Company, and served as Regimental Assistant S-3 during this tour.

Franks, after graduating from the Armed Forces Staff College, was posted to the Pentagon in 1976, where he served as an Army Inspector General in the Investigations Division. In 1977 he was assigned to the Office of the Chief of Staff, Army where he served on the Congressional Activities Team, and subsequently as an Executive Assistant.

In 1981, Franks returned to West Germany where he commanded 2nd Battalion, 78th Field Artillery for three years. He returned to the U.S. in 1984 to attend the Army War College at Carlisle, PA, where he also received a Master of Science degree in Public Administration from the Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. He was next assigned to Fort Hood, TX, as III Corps Deputy Assistant G-3, a position he held until 1987 when he assumed command of Division Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division. He also served as Chief of Staff, 1st Cavalry Division during this tour.

His initial assignment as a general officer was Assistant Division Commander (Maneuver), 1st Cavalry Division during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. During 1991-92, he was assigned as Assistant Commandant of the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill. In 1992, he was assigned to Fort Monroe, VA as the first Director, Louisiana Maneuvers Task Force, Office of Chief of Staff of the Army, a position held until 1994 when he was reassigned to South Korea as the CJG-3 of Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea.

From 1995-97, Franks commanded the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea. He assumed Command of Third (U.S.) Army/Army Forces Central Command in Atlanta, GA, in May 1997, a post he held until June 2000 when he was selected for promotion to General and assignment as Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), succeeding General Anthony Zinni, U.S. Marine Corps. Franks was the U.S. General that led the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the overthrow of the Taliban government in response to the 11 September attacks. He also led the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

General Tommy Ray Franks' retirement was announced on 22 May 2003. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld reportedly offered him the position of Army Chief of Staff, but he declined. Franks' retirement was effective 7 July 2003.

Medals, Awards and Badges

Defense Distinguished Service Medal with 2 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
Army Distinguished Service Medal with Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster
Legion of Merit with 3 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
Bronze Star with Valor Device with 4 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
Purple Heart with 2 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
Air Medal with Valor Device and Numeral 9
Army Commendation Medal with Valor Device
Army Achievement Medal
Army Good Conduct Medal
National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Star
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Vietnam Service Medal with 2 Bronze Stars
Southwest Asia Service Medal with Bronze Star
Army Service Ribbon
Army Overseas Service Ribbon with Numeral 2
Vietnam Campaign Medal
Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia)
Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait)
Cheon-Su Security Medal Ribbon
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Joint Meritorious Unit Award
Army Valorous Unit Award
Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation
Vietnam Civil Actions Medal
Army Aviation Badge
Army Staff Identification Badge

Civilian Medals, Awards and Honors

• In 2004, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

• A museum dedicated to General Franks is located in Hobart, OK.

In Retirement

Since 2003, General Franks has operated Franks & Associates LLC, a private consulting firm, active in the Disaster Recovery industry. In June 2006, General Franks formed a partnership with Innovative Decon Solutions.

Following his retirement, General Franks published his memoirs in American Soldier (HarperCollins), which debuted as Number #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list in August 2004, displacing President Bill Clinton's memoir from the top spot. One reviewer praised General Franks' recollections of his Vietnam service but opined that the book, like the plan for and execution of the Iraq war itself, he said, "begins better than it ends." The reviewer expressed the wish that Franks had "relied less on the official record and more on his own experience and memories" in recalling the later war, as he had in recalling the earlier one.

Speaking at the Republican Convention in New York on 31 August 2004, General Franks endorsed President George W. Bush for re-election. President Bush awarded Franks the country's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom on 14 December 2004. In the same month, Franks became a spokesman for Teen Arrive Alive, which is a company that uses GPS in cellular phones to tell parents how fast their teenage children are driving.

In December 2005, Franks was appointed to the Bank of America board of directors, a position he held until resigning on 11 June 2009 for unspecified reasons but as part of an "exodus" of ten directors from April to August, 2009. The bank had received $45 billion of U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funding and sustained dramatic losses starting in 2008.

Franks also sits on OSI Restaurant Partners's board of directors. On 26 March 2008 he was elected to the board of directors of Chuck E. Cheese's.

Franks sits on the Board of Directors of the National Park Foundation. He is an advisor to the Central Command Memorial Foundation and the Military Child Education Coalition, and is a spokesman for the Southeastern Guide Dogs Organization.

Franks currently resides in Roosevelt, OK.

Comments and Controversy

Iraq War

In their book, Cobra II, military correspondent Michael R. Gordon and military historian and retired Marine Corps General Bernard Trainor argued that Franks failed to recognize the threat the Saddam Fedayeen irregular fighters posed to the invading ground forces in 2003 and their potential to form the core of a post-war insurgency. For instance, they make a disputed claim that Franks threatened to fire General William Wallace, commander of the Army's V Corps, for saying to the press during that war that the enemy the U.S. was facing was different from the enemy the military had planned against.

Franks rejected the critical comments on Hardball with Chris Matthews on 17 April 2006. He replied saying, "Well, I don't know that I would hold myself to a standard to try to help the retired admiral, you know, sell his book." Franks pointed to a study published by U.S. Joint Forces Command which, he says, showed that there was no linkage between the Fedayeen and the insurgency present in Iraq today. He agrees with their assessment, which would discredit Cobra II's notion that his failure to take the Fedayeen seriously during the invasion of Iraq contributed to the post-war insurgency.

The authors also suggest that Franks was worn down by repeated pressure from U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to reduce the number of U.S. troops in war plans and cancel the deployment of the 1st Cavalry Division; a scheduled follow-on unit that was slated for deployment in April 2003. (New York Times: Dash to Baghdad Left Top US Generals Divided 13 March 2006.) More generally, they argue Franks' command was somewhat understandably focused on the immediate task in front of it - defeating Saddam Hussein and taking Baghdad - and few were willing to divert resources away from that effort and toward the long-term post-war needs.

The writers also question his decision during the war to keep sealift ships carrying the equipment for the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at sea instead of bringing the equipment ashore in Kuwait sooner so the division could have entered Iraq earlier than it did to add to the force levels in post-war Iraq. Franks argues that by keeping the ships at sea the Iraqis were deceived into believing a U.S. attack was yet to come from the north through Turkey, though Colin Powell and others have questioned his view (Plan of Attack, Bob Woodward, 2004).

Franks wanted to retire after the major combat phase of the war, tired from having planned for and prosecuted two major wars and led a war on terrorism since September 2001. As a result, Gordon and Trainor argue he was slow to act during the crucial months following the fall of Baghdad. They suggest there was a leadership void at U.S. Central Command because his two deputies, Michael Delong and John Abizaid, were at odds with each other until Abizaid succeeded Franks in the middle of the summer of 2003. Delong retired with a bitter taste in his mouth and wrote his own book regarding the leadership failures in the headquarters of CENTCOM. They also note that there was a command transition in Iraq as V Corps and General Ricardo Sanchez took command of U.S. forces in Iraq without being fully resourced and trained for the mission in advance. (Cobra II, Gordon and Trainor 2006)

In Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, veteran defense and Pentagon reporter Thomas E. Ricks echoes criticism from officers who had served under Franks who put forth that, while tactically sound, he lacked the strategic mindset and overall intellect necessary for the task. Some close to him argued he was more thoughtful than he seemed, was aware that Secretary Rumsfeld and his staff were unable to discuss the Iraq War in military terms, and had an obligation to put forth stronger objections to the civilian control of military planning. While demanding and goal oriented, he was also criticized for being unwilling to countenance alternate viewpoints and for detaching himself from day-to-day affairs when the ground war ceased and he prepared for retirement.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

According to Time magazine, on 21 November 2003, Franks said that in the event of another terrorist attack, American constitutional liberties might be discarded by popular demand in favor of a military state. Discussing the hypothetical dangers posed to the U.S. in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks, Franks said that "the worst thing that could happen" is if terrorists acquire and then use a biological, chemical or nuclear weapon that inflicts heavy casualties. If that happens, Franks said, "... the Western world, the free world, loses what it cherishes most, and that is freedom and liberty we've seen for a couple of hundred years in this grand experiment that we call democracy." Franks then offered "in a practical sense" what he thinks would happen in the aftermath of such an attack.

"It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world - it may be in the United States of America - that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins to unravel the fabric of our Constitution."

"[No] one in this country probably was more surprised than I when weapons of mass destruction were not used against our troops as they moved toward Baghdad," said Franks on 2 December 2005.

Financial Controversy

In January 2008, ABC News and the Army Times reported on Franks' involvement with the charitable Coalition to Salute America's Heroes, which he charged $100,000 to use his name to raise money for wounded soldiers. Following Congressional investigators and watchdog groups' criticism because only 25% of the money found its way to wounded veterans, compared to the industry standard of 85%, Franks ended his support for the group in late 2005. Roger Chapin, president of the charity, and his wife had apparently been living a lavish lifestyle on the charity's money. Bob Schieffer, host of CBS's Face the Nation, criticized Franks, saying, "What kind of person would insist, or even allow himself, to be paid to raise money for those who were wounded while serving under him? Franks says he severed his connection to the fundraiser when he realized most of the money he helped raise went to the fundraiser, not the troops."



Honoree ID: 229   Created by: MHOH

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