Operation Desert Storm Leader Schwarzkopf Dead At 78

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Retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf at a 2006 fundraiser in New York City.

Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who commanded U.S.-led forces furing the first Gulf War, has died the Associated Press is reporting.

Schwarzkopf, 78, lived in Tampa.

Schwarzkopf's last assignment was as commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force base.

From ABC News:

Schwarzkopf, the future four-star general, was raised as an army brat in Iran, Switzerland, Germany and Italy, following in his father's footsteps to West Point and being commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1956...

In 1983, as a newly-minted general, Schwarzkopf once again led troops into battle in President Reagan's invasion of Granada, a tiny Caribbean island where the White House saw American influence threatened by a Cuban-backed coup.

But he gained most of his fame in Iraq, where he used his 6-foot-3, 240-pound frame and fearsome temper to drive his troops to victory. Gruff and direct, his goal was to win the war as quickly as possible and with a focused objective: getting Iraq out of Kuwait.