I posted this as a comment in larbabe's excellent diary and it was suggested I post it as a separate diary. I am doing so because I'm such an admirer of General Clark and hope this diary will demonstrate why. Since I'm making this a diary instead of a comment, I'm adding to it.
Please follow me below the jump...
Correction: After checking his bio, at the time of his 40th birthday (December 23, 1984), Gen. Clark was stationed at the Fort Irwin Military Reservation in the Mojave Desert in California.
UPDATE #1: If after reading this article you agree with me that General Wes Clark would be an ideal running mate for Barack Obama, please sign the petition on www.obamaclark.com. Thanks!
UPDATE #2: I had second thoughts about including "None" as an option on the poll. I realized it will probably be abused by McCain's troops coming to Daily Kos to spread Republican talking points and earn some lame points. However, it appears I cannot edit or even remove the poll once voting has started.
The original post starts below.
In 2004, I spent the coldest two-weeks of my life - and I grew up in Indiana and lived in Chicago for 8 years - volunteering for Gen. Clark in Berlin, NH. (Not to be confused with that other Berlin, they pronounce it more like BURR-lynn).
There was one paid staffer and four of us full-time volunteers. One of the volunteers was Clarks' roommate from West Point. He entertained me with stories about their time together. It was clear that Cadet Clark earned the respect of his classmates and was destined to be a great leader.
He also told me stories about Gen. Clark's military accomplishments, including the inside scoop on Kosovo. Apparently Gen. Clark was extremely upset about the ethnic cleansing going on and was also extremely frustrated that the Pentagon would only approve high-altitude bombings. Gen. Clark, who was described to me as a brilliant military tactician (sure could have used some of those recently), knew that Slobodan Milosevic's prized and most powerful military possessions were his tanks and those could easily be protected from high-altitude bombing runs. Clark knew that if he wanted to get Milosevic to the negotiating table (hey, how about that? Using a combination of military and diplomatic force) that he needed to be able to threaten the tanks. He needed attack helicopters. Because he was U.S. European Command, he had the authority to request the helicopters. However, there was one caveat. Apparently if a mission requires two branches of the military to work together, the Pentagon must give approval, which Clark couldn't secure. Apparently President Clinton unofficially supported Clark's plan but was unwilling to intervene with the Pentagon. Luckily there were some helicopters (I don't know if they were Blackhawk or something else) stationed within flying range (I believe in Germany) and Clark was able to order them to Kosovo. Had the helicopters been stationed outside of flying range and required transportation from the Air Force, he never would've gotten his helicopters, Milosevic's tanks would never have been threatened, and who knows how many more Albanians would have been slaughtered. That was prevented because Gen. Clark was willing to do everything he could, while still following the rules, to stop what he correctly saw as an incredible humanitarian crisis.
Anyway, back to the 2004 campaign office in Berlin. The five of us worked side-by-side for two weeks out of a storefront campaign office that used to be a photography studio. It was so cold the entire area was basically shut down. For the record, I don't recommend trying to pound a 10x12 billboard into completely frozen ground. They said it was the worst winter in 30 years if I remember correctly. I lost count of how many times the truck battery died and had to be jumped (but it was pretty much any time we stopped for more than 30 minutes -- thank heavens for portable generators). I slept on an air mattress in a vacant apartment upstairs that had heat but no electricity.
Despite all the adversity, I couldn't have been happier to be where I was because I absolutely, 100% believed in Gen. Clark. I spent hours reading his very detailed position papers (and eating the minature Clark candy bars we handed out). I couldn't believe a politician was being so forthcoming with so many details. He even included a section that told people how exactly they would know if he had been successful or not so they could hold him accountable (probably a little naive considering all the other factors - like a little thing called Congress - that are involved).
The highlight was definitely getting to go to Dixville Notch where they announce the election results just after midnight. General Clark was the first presidential candidate to ever be there for the results (yes, he won!).
A very close second was getting to meet his son at a campaign event. I remember him telling this story about how on Gen. Clark's 40th birthday they were living in a trailer in the Arizona desert. They had a car that was so old and beat up that they had to jerry-rig a radiator using some tin foil (I'm not a car guy so I may not remember the details precisely but you get the point). Anyway, his son's point was that here was a man who graduated first in his class from West Point, was a Rhodes Scholar, had a Masters Degree from Oxford in Economics, and was being offered six-figure salaries when he was in his early 20's. He could've been a very wealthy young man with a bright corporate future. Yet, almost 20 years later, there he was living in a trailer and jerry-rigging a radiator to keep the family car running. Why? Because he chose his country over his own self-interests.
I'll never forget that story. It was very moving. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why General Wesley Clark needs to be a very big part of the Obama admininstration. I vote for VP but Sen. Obama has the only vote that counts.
P.S. After I left the Clark campaign in NH, I returned to Chicago and volunteered on the U.S. Senate campaign of a man by the name of Barack Obama. Maybe you've heard of him?