[Mick]

[quote author=Mick link=topic=10564.msg97130#msg97130 date=1410057495]
Dwight D Eisenhower (as well as Omar Bradley) were members of the West Point football team.  Eisenhower was a running back and linebacker (tackled Jim Thorpe in one game).  In his last game, he was a victim of what was then called a "high-low" play, or a chop block.  Ruined his knee, then re-injured the knee in boxing and horseback riding, so he turned to gymnastics and fencing.  Seriously.

And started the interstate highway system to provide landing and take off runways for our bombers.
[/quote]


I often thought that his work on the highway system dated to one of his early assignments.  He graduated West Point in 1915, was stationed stateside (early on, he was repeatedly denied overseas assignments and didn't see action in WWI, which General Montgomery held over his head, a bit).  In 1919, he was a young captain and was assigned to a transcontinental tank division to dramatize the need for improved roads throughout the nation.  The convoy averaged 5 mph from Washington DC to San Francisco.  I imagine that Ike had that in mind when he improved the nation's highways.

Post-WWI, he commanded a tank battalion (along with Patton).  As young officers in the early 1920s, they were very much in favor of speed-oriented tank attacks (not unlike the signature feature of the German blitzkrieg two decades later), but the senior officers at the time strongly discouraged Ike and wanted to use tanks in the rear to support infantry.  So strong were Ike's opinions, he was threatened with court martial if he continued to publish them.

[Mick]

[quote author=Mick link=topic=10564.msg97130#msg97130 date=1410057495]
Dwight D Eisenhower (as well as Omar Bradley) were members of the West Point football team.  Eisenhower was a running back and linebacker (tackled Jim Thorpe in one game).  In his last game, he was a victim of what was then called a "high-low" play, or a chop block.  Ruined his knee, then re-injured the knee in boxing and horseback riding, so he turned to gymnastics and fencing.  Seriously.

And started the interstate highway system to provide landing and take off runways for our bombers.
[/quote]


I often thought that his work on the highway system dated to one of his early assignments.  He graduated West Point in 1915, was stationed stateside (early on, he was repeatedly denied overseas assignments and didn't see action in WWI, which General Montgomery held over his head, a bit).  In 1919, he was a young captain and was assigned to a transcontinental tank division to dramatize the need for improved roads throughout the nation.  The convoy averaged 5 mph from Washington DC to San Francisco.  I imagine that Ike had that in mind when he improved the nation's highways.

Post-WWI, he commanded a tank battalion (along with Patton).  As young officers in the early 1920s, they were very much in favor of speed-oriented tank attacks (not unlike the signature feature of the German blitzkrieg two decades later), but the senior officers at the time strongly discouraged Ike and wanted to use tanks in the rear to support infantry.  So strong were Ike's opinions, he was threatened with court martial if he continued to publish them.