GEN. CHARLES WILHELM

Miami Herald, The (FL)
December 6, 1998
Author: MICHELLE GENZ, Tropic Staff Write

In Honduras, the enemy facing Gen. Charles Wilhelm was mud; it was as menacing as any foe he has seen. As commander-in-chief of the United States Southern Command, the Pentagon's headquarters for U.S. military activity in Latin America and the Caribbean, Wilhelm has been in charge of relief efforts in Central America following Hurricane Mitch. "Helicopters and rubber boats were literally pulling people off of death's door,'' says Wilhelm, who flew twice to the region.

It was hardly Wilhelm's first exposure to calamity. Wilhelm, 57, headed the Marine forces in Somalia in 1992 trying to restore order to a starving nation. He was in Beirut when a truck bomb ripped through Marine barracks in 1983. He served in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. The menace that provoked him into military service now falls under his watch: Cuba, the only non-democratic nation of the 32 countries in his purview, aimed missiles at this country while Wilhelm was at Florida Southern College in Lakeland. Among his frat brothers, patriotism flared.

"We were absolutely committed to going down there and serving if it had come to that,'' Wilhelm recalls.

When Marine recruiters set up on campus a year later, Wilhelm signed on. In 1965, he went to Vietnam. The second night, his rifle platoon dug in behind the tombstones of a village cemetery. Under fire for the first time, Wilhelm never doubted the decisions that put him there, he says. "There's a thing called commitment,'' says Wilhelm. "We did what we were trained to do.''

In months, he had lost half his platoon to death or injury. But Wilhelm believed staunchly in the effort, and signed up for another tour. Meanwhile, he married his wife, Valerie, whom he had met at college, and seen again in Vietnam, where she was with the Red Cross.

Wilhelm came home from Vietnam in 1970, and soon after, the couple had a son, Elliott. But the onslaught of negativism surrounding the war was deeply demoralizing. "I would have gone back for a third tour, a fourth,'' he says. "I felt we were backing out, leaving unfinished business. I felt a lot let down.''

Wilhelm took assignments to Europe, the Middle East and the Philippines. Named director of operations of Marine Corps headquarters in 1988, he became a deputy assistant secretary of defense in 1990. In 1997, he was nominated by President Clinton to become general and head of Southern Command when the 1,000-member staff relocated from Panama to Miami.

The influences of childhood?

My parents were intensely interested in my brother and me. We had limitations on TV, parentally imposed requirements on homework. We sat down at the table every night and talked about things like world events. We were better informed than most kids, and they really stressed values.

An enduring trait?

I've always liked order. In our household, rules were not challenged or discussed a great deal. I played baseball, and what the coach said stuck. In the Marines, it was the same.

Worst fault?

I have a terrible temper.

Your goal in life?

I've never been a personal goal setter; I set goals for the organization. My goal on Tuesday morning is to do a good job on Tuesday.

Defining moment?

A number: standing on the edge of that smoking pit in Beirut; watching the Berlin Wall come down and seeing a threat that I feared would consume my country suddenly disappear; the jubilation when I came home from the Gulf War. And it was a defining moment when my dad passed away.

On taking charge?

To be able to give orders, you must first learn to take them. You are judgmental about the orders you take, and while you may not challenge them, you start to form opinions on whether they could be wiser or more prudent. When you give orders, you reflexively remember the orders you received. I learned never to give an order I would not willingly carry out.

The emotional toll of combat?

Hard work puts calluses on your hands. Combat puts calluses on your soul. The first time you get shot at is the beginning of old age.

Edition: Final

Section: Tropic

Page: 38

Copyright (c) 1998 The Miami Herald