For most of his Army career, Brig. Gen. James Schwitters has
worked in the shadowy world of special operations.
Now, Schwitters finds himself in Columbia’s limelight. He is the
new commanding general of Fort Jackson, the Army’s largest training
center and a key cog in the Midlands economic engine.
It’s a role that agrees with the 55-year-old Seattle native.
“I’d like to stay here as long as I can,” Schwitters told a
recent gathering of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s
military affairs committee.
Schwitters suggested a seven- to nine-year stint would suit him.
But given that he is the 42nd commander in the post’s 88-year
history, his tenure probably will last about two years.
Still, Schwitters said in an interview that he considers his
public role important.
“I want to be a good steward of that historically excellent and
enviable community relationship” between Fort Jackson and the
Midlands, Schwitters said.
The Army-Midlands relationship dates to 1917, when Columbia
officials gave land to the War Department for a training base.
The post and community have flourished since then. Half of the
Army’s soldiers train each year at Fort Jackson. In return, the
fort’s annual economic impact is $2.3 billion in salaries, sales and
services.
The fort’s role will continue to grow in the next few years.
Three new missions that will bring more than 600 jobs are to be
added to the base sometime before 2010.
While new to the area, Schwitters already has made a favorable
impression on Midlands leaders.
“He is a very bright guy who is soft-spoken and deliberate but
supports the community-Fort Jackson relationship,” said Donald “Ike”
McLeese, chief executive officer of the Greater Columbia Chamber of
Commerce.
‘STAYED WITH IT’
Schwitters assumed command July 19 from Brig. Gen. Abraham
Turner, a South Carolina native and the post’s first
African-American commander.
Turner left to become deputy chief of staff for operations and
training for the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command at Fort
Monroe, Md.
Schwitters arrived in Columbia after a year-long tour overseeing
the creation and training of the Iraqi army.
The Iraq job was the highlight of his career, Schwitters
said.
“I was responsible for building a nation’s armed forces, building
an institution,” said Schwitters, who was commanding general of the
Coalition Military Assistance Training Team. “Doing it across a
fairly distinct cultural gap was fascinating and intricate.”
Schwitters said he did not intend on carving out a 30-year career
as an infantry officer when he joined the Army in 1975.
After graduating from college, he went to work as a welding
engineer for a farm implement manufacturer.
But Schwitters also had a nagging urge to serve, so he took a
leave of absence from his job and enlisted.
“I was fully intending to serve four years and return,”
Schwitters said. “I found a challenge and a sense of fulfillment in
the type of assignments I was given and just stayed with it.”
Schwitters became a radio operator with a Ranger unit and after
five years received a direct commission as an officer.
Much of Schwitters’ career has been spent in the Army’s elite
counterterrorism unit — the 1st Special Operations Detachment-Delta
at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Commonly known as Delta Force, or just Delta, the unit was born
in secrecy nearly 30 years ago. Its existence still officially is
denied by the Army.
Mark Bowden, author of the best-seller “Black Hawk Down,” writes
Delta members are “specially trained professional soldiers, most of
them in their late 20s or early 30s, products of a tortuously rigid
selection process.”
Delta soldiers must be flexible, adaptable problem-solvers, able
to think on their own. They train “for any kind of eventuality,”
Schwitters added.
‘WE WILL ALWAYS CHANGE’
Army leaders also regard Delta as a test bed, Schwitters said. It
“has a great benefit to perfect things, push the envelope and
transfer that to the larger Army,” he said.
Leaders with Schwitters’ background seem to be the people the
Army is looking to as it transforms how it operates and trains
while, at the same time, fights wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Thoughtful, deliberate, battle-seasoned, all business, nothing
like ‘the perfumed princes’ the late Col. David H. Hackworth railed
against for so many years,” is how Columbia military writer W.
Thomas Smith Jr. describes Schwitters in an article for
NavySEALS.com.
If the Army wants tougher leaders, it also wants tougher troops.
In less than two years, basic combat training has become more
rigorous — physically and mentally — and more focused.
Even the support troops who train at Fort Jackson learn
battlefield skills — such as convoy protection and urban warfare
tactics — that prepare them to fight as soon as they reach Iraq.
The almost rapid-fire changes in training are necessary for the
troops’ survival.
“You cannot always anticipate what the next fight will be,”
Schwitters said. “You’ve got to organize and develop leaders and
soldiers who can think and adapt and be flexible.
“We will always change.”
Schwitters, who served with Fort Jackson’s 1st Brigade from 1996
to 1998, said he finds the business of training soldiers
rewarding.
“There is nothing like seeing the light in the eyes of a soldier
switch on when they get it,” Schwitters said. “That is a marvelous
thing to watch and be a part of.”
Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503 or ccrumbo@thestate.com.
