Saturday, Jun. 20, 2009

Colin Powell speaks at Infantry Museum grand opening

Colin Powell knows Fort Benning well.

A career that led the retired general to military’s highest ranks and into diplomatic service was forged in the heat and humidity of west Georgia.

When the former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff started his speech to officially open the $91 million National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center at Patriot Park, Powell paused Friday morning.

“It would not be a certified Fort Benning ceremony if it were not 95 degrees and the troops had to be in the sun,” Powell said. “It had to be this way.”

What Powell called “the finest tribute to the American soldier anywhere” opened after more than a decade of planning, fundraising and hard work. A crowd estimated at 4,000 attended the museum dedication and basic training graduation that preceded it.

The museum tells the 234-year-old story of the Infantry soldier from the early days of the Revolutionary War to the sands of the Persian Gulf.

“This site is much more than a mere memorial,” Powell said. “The word ‘museum’ is inadequate to describe it.”

And Powell was “the perfect person for the lofty role” of marking the moment, said U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, a Georgia Democrat who was instrumental in helping the National Infantry Foundation secure the federal funds necessary for building the museum.

Bishop then listed Powell’s accomplishments, which culminated as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the first Gulf War and secretary of state under President George W. Bush.

“But first and foremost,” Bishop said, “he’s an Infantryman.”

Powell said as much as he delivered a 15-minute speech with the “Follow Me” statute and the museum’s entrance just to his left.

“Benning molded me and made me a professional Infantryman,” Powell said.

Then he laughed, rattling off the orders he’d heard as a young officer a half-century ago.

“Lieutenant, don’t stand there with your finger in your ear and your brain in Alabama,” Powell remembered being told more than once.

The lessons he learned as a soldier at Benning were simple and unforgettable, Powell said.

“I learned never to be without a watch, a pencil and a notebook,” he said.

Powell learned not only how to follow orders while stationed at Fort Benning, but also how to lead soliders.

“You know you are a good leader when troops will follow you out of curiosity,” he said.

But in the end, it is not curiosity that defines a leader. It’s something more basic: trust.

“They trust you and you trust them,” he said. “Trust is the essence of the Infantry.”

And the Infantry is the critical element in U.S. military arsenal, Powell said.

He told a war story that’s more than 100 years old to make his point about not only the Infantry’s necessity, but also its primary purpose.