He began his career as a horse soldier, commanded a tank regiment in World War II, and retired as an accomplished sky cavalry tactician. In the course of thirty-five years in the military, Hamilton Howze witnessed and took part in a century's worth of change.
A Cavalryman's Story is the memoir of a professional soldier, born into the lineage of West Point and recognized today as the father of U.S. Army Airmobile tactics and doctrine. With understated charm and humor, the author writes of his polo-playing years in a 1930s Army that still relied on horses, and then of the sudden, almost remarkable transition to armored divisions when the United States entered World War II.
He captures the tenor of combat from the "upper middle" perspective of a regimental commander, reading Clausewitz, battling tanks, and chasing the Germans across North Africa and Italy.
It was in the mid-1950s that General Howze emerged as one of a handful of perceptive army officers who recognized the potential of a sky cavalry - divisions in which helicopters replaced ground vehicles in providing fire power, mobility intelligence, and logistical support. As the first director of Army Aviation, General Howze promoted that concept to industry, the government, and the public. His vision came to fruition in the 1960s when he presided over the U.S.
Army Tactical Mobility Requirements Board, known as the Howze Board, which made sweeping recommendations to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and proved the viability of sky cavalry in combat. Revealing the temperament as well as the life history of an American gentleman-soldier, A Cavalryman's Story provides an authoritative look at the forging of the modern Army and a wry perspective on the perennial absurdities of military life, whether in peace or in war.
