Overview
I graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1982. The Class of 1982 has done very well in the Army with many distinguished graduates. I am not one of them! No war was ever won or lost on my account. My class has two four star generals and at least eight three star generals and as many two star generals. Perhaps, the one classmate that I got to spend a lot of time around is the new Deputy National Security Advisor Rick Waddell.
I ended up being a Spanish and Portuguese major as a result of the trick that had been played on me after realizing all of the math and science classes that were core academic requirements. I did not have a humility problem when I arrived at West Point and definitely did not have one after countless “fifteen rounders” with the Dean of Academics. I had been a stellar high school Latin student but realized that there wasn’t much need for the Dead Language at West Point. Ï realized that if I did not find something that I could excel at academically, I would graduate with a “D-“average with my eighth grade math skills at the oldest engineering school in America.
The Spanish Department was an unfriendly department. I could earn demerits just showing up to class as the professor conducted inspection before and after the start of class. The Portuguese Department was different and possibly the smallest and friendliest department at West Point. At that point in time, West Point may have been the only service academy teaching Brazilian Portuguese.
The head of the Portuguese Department was Dr. Carlos Garcia, a Brazilian with doctorates from Coimbra, the Oxford of Portugal and NYU. He was an excellent teacher. The Department also had a visiting officer from the Brazilian Army, Colonel Oacyr Pizzotti Minervino. He was a graduate of the Brazilian Military Academy, Agulhas Negras. He ended up retiring as a General. One of the other professor’s was Captain Dave Bell, a captain in the Air Force, who had grown up in Brazil as the son of Baptist missionaries. He was a wonderful teacher and person. I spent plenty of Saturdays visiting the Pizzottis at their home on the base. It allowed me to accelerate my improvement in Portuguese and learn a lot about Brazil. I also ate extremely well.
It was an exciting time to be a Portuguese student. Brazil was still in the midst of its military dictatorship but was thriving culturally. Brazilian music through the sounds of Sergio Mendes and artists like Jorge Ben, Chico Buarque, Gilberto Gil, and Gal Costa became well known outside of Brazil. The Brazilian national soccer team, “A Seleção”, was world famous. Brazilian films such as Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands featuring Sonia Braga, had a lot of appeal for a twenty year old college student.
With Spanish under my belt, I learned Portuguese very quickly. In the course of my Portuguese studies, I had a number of classes with Rick Waddell where we were the only two students in the class. Rick was a member of the football team and a Star Man, i.e. a cadet in the top five percent of the class academically. He excelled at everything he did academically, militarily, and athletically. He did his homework and I showed up to class. Nevertheless, we were both “A” students. He accomplished his grades with great effort and discipline. I accomplished my results by osmosis and natural ability. He was good at everything and I was good at one thing. By the time we were seniors, he had been awarded a Rhodes scholarship and I was happy to graduate.
Over the years I frequently wondered how and why a stellar student from Arkansas who sounded like he was from Arkansas would have any interest in Brazilian Portuguese. I would see Rick at class reunions. By the time, he went off active duty in 1993, he had already taught at West Point in the history department having earned a Ph.D. in international relations from Columbia. He went off active duty and spent the next fourteen years working for Walmart, Enron, and a few other companies in Brazil. He stayed in the reserves and got promoted to Brigadier General and came back to the States.
The last time I saw him in 2014, he was the deputy commander of U.S. Southern Command a two star general. By that time, he had also learned Spanish. He had also written three books, The Army and Low Intensity Conflict; In War’s Shadow; and Wars Then and Now. He did several tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. I believe one assignment in Afghanistan had Rick in charge of the investigation of government corruption in Afghanistan, one another thing that his time in Brazil would have prepared him for with all of its political corruption. His travels in Brazil and Portuguese language led him to financial success. My travels in Portuguese after a thirty three year hiatus led me to representing Brazilians out of immigration status in immigration court.
Summary
I have often wondered whether or not our senior military leaders are any different than the politicians in the House and Senate, political animals. I know a number of my classmates that are Generals, but never had the opportunity to gauge them from up close like Rick Waddell. In case taxpayers are wondering if they have gotten their money’s worth, I can say without reservation or hesitation that Rick Waddell is a modern renaissance man and one of the most exceptional people that I have ever met. He has the rarest combination of intellect, leadership and experience but is perhaps one of nicest and most humble men that you will ever meet. Kudos to Lt. General McMaster, the national security advisor, for his selection of Rick Waddell as his deputy. Politico reported that President’s Chief of Staff had lobbied hard against the nomination. The national security advisor is known to be his own man, selected the best man for the job, without consulting the President. We have the right man in the job. As for me, I wonder if I should have studied harder what might have been.
In the final analysis, Rick Waddell may have been one of the most exceptional people that I knew during my time at West Point in the midst of a bunch of exceptional people. I never knew MacArthur or Patton, but I am sure that they did not speak Spanish and Portuguese. His combination of intellect, discipline, leadership and all around status as a great guy are the most exceptional mix of personal qualities emerging from my Class of 1982. The Country will be very well served!
