Colin Powell
...from high school without knowing what he would do with his life. He entered the City College of New York to study geology and it was there own that he found his calling when he joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). He became commander the drill team and graduated in 1958 at the top of his ROTC class, with the rank of cadet colonel, the highest rank in the corps. He was put as a second lieutenant in the United States Army, and was one of the 16,000 military advisors dispatched to South Vietnam in 1962. In 1963, he was wounded by a booby trap while watching the Vietnamese border with Laos. He was awarded the Purple Heart, and later that year, the Bronze Star. He served a second tour of duty in Vietnam in 1968-69. During this second tour he was injured in a helicopter crash. Even though he had his own injuries, he managed to rescue his friends from the burning helicopter and was awarded the Soldier's Medal. In all, he has received 11 decorations, including the Legion of Merit. He earned an MBA at George Washington University in Washington, DC, and after being promoted to major, won a White House fellowship. He was assigned to the Office of Management and Budget during the time of President Nixon, and he made a lasting impression on the Director and Deputy Director of the Office: Casper Weinberger and Frank Carlucci. Both of these people were to call on him when they served as Secretary of Defense and National Security Advisor, respectively, under President Reagan. He was, now a Colonel, followed his term as White House Fellow with service as a battalion commander in Korea and with a staff job at the Pentagon. After study at the Army War College, he was promoted to Brigadier General and commanded a Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. In the administration of President Carter, Powell was an assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and to the...
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