The Rapid Deployment Force and U.S. Foreign Policy
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Authors
Mall, William J.
Issue Date
1985-05-08
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
General Mall was born in Pittsburgh. He was Commissioned through the University of Pittsburgh's Reserve Officer training program in 1954. In nearly 30 years of service, he has flown more than 7,000 hours in a variety of aircraft. He holds a masters degree in Business Administration from the George Washington University and attended the Senior Manager in Government Program at Harvard University.
ANNECDOTE
My (Ken Wise) step brother, Jim Brubaker of Littitz, PA, was one of the medical students lifted from Grenada. Radio communications alerted the students that the raid was coming so they could mark their hilltop compound for the rescuers. Jim was unhappy about one aspect of the operation: the bombing runs USAF conducted prior to the 23rd's arrival. One large piece of ordinance dropped ricocheted from something on the beach and landed next to the students' quarters. No student was harmed but they were scared; the bomb destroyed Jim's motorcycle, something he pointed out to President Reagan during the students' visit to the Oval Office upon their return to D.C. A second point, a UNMC staff nurse (personal friend) wrote to me from her quarters upon a hospital ship off-shore from the Grenada fighting. Her account included descriptions of injuries and fatalities among U.S. forces, whom she treated, never reported in U.S. news media. The glorious Reagan Grenada rescue mission was not entirely glorious.
SUMMARY
The 23rd's motto, you call, we haul, fits the unit's infiltration and exfiltration purposes. In the Grenada operation Gen Mall commanded the airlift component that delivered air drops onto the island and eventually landed special operations choppers to rescue the medical students trapped by the fighting; students at their billet showed a signal spotlight (to be found). Mall claimed the press was barred from the operation for lack of room and to hide "certain units and tactics we wanted not seen."
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