General Robert W. Cone passes
Bobo sends us the sad news that General Robert W. Cone has passed at the age of 59. Cone was the commander of Fort Hood when a jihadist gunned down 45 of his troops in 2009. From the New Hampshire Union Leader;
In March 2014, Cone retired as commander of U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, which oversees training, recruitment and new equipment integration for the Army.
As commander of III Corps, Cone deployed to Iraq to serve as deputy commanding general for operations, the second highest-ranking military officer in Iraq, said Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat.
Cone was responsible for operations throughout the country, including the development and training of Iraqi Security Forces.
“In his nearly 35-year military career, Gen. Cone rose through the ranks of the U.S. Army to become a distinguished four-star general and he leaves behind a legacy of hard work, grit and dedication to our Armed Forces,” [U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen] said.
“Gen. Cone devoted his life to preserving freedom at home and abroad, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Qatar, Kuwait and Germany, and his distinguished career has made New Hampshire proud. My thoughts are with Gen. Cone’s family — the Granite State mourns your loss and we are grateful for your family’s service to this country.”
Try as I might, I can’t find the cause of his passing.
Category: Blue Skies
Rest in peace, Sir.
God’s peace be with your family.
59 is way to young, but many who live longer have accomplished much less.
I was at Fort Hood that fateful day. I am speechless at the loss of this great leader. My prayers go out to his family.
GEN Cone, thank you for looking out for all of us that day.
Rest in peace, Sir…
Rest in Peace, GEN Robert Cone… and thank you for your service and your leadership.
Saw GEN Cone on some C-SPAN interviews, and seemed like a good humble guy. I remembered him expressing disappointment as a Major being stuck at FT. Leavenworth attending the CGSC while Desert Storm was going on, and one story where as a 1 star he was at Dubya’s Texas ranch to give some briefing to Pres Bush, and he had to piss so bad he almost had an accident in front of Laura Bush. Didn’t know the guy, but RIP – damn 59 is too young to go.
Met him a few times over the years, and I’d say your assessment is spot on. No nonsense, decent, humble – and a damned capable officer. Knew when to be hard, and when not to.
RIP, General.
https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/four-months-after-i-pinned-4-stars-i-had-stage-4-metastatic-disease
Cancer did it. RIP, General Cone.
I was kinda wondering if it might possibly have been early onset prostate cancer. Unfortunately, looks like that’s what it was.
As much as we joke about proctologists, after I lost a mentor and friend to prostate cancer, I get checked every year.
My goal is to die at 110 in a backpacking accident in the Colorado Rockies leading a group of teens in an adventure.
Now is a good time to remind men that getting a baseline psa at 40 is a great idea. There have been some articles that poo poo psa tests but if I hadn’t asked my primary care for one, my prostate cancer would have been much more advanced before symptoms appeared.
Amen, on the PSA test. It saved my life, or at least has let it be longer than it would have been. Last physical I had the doc told me that my insurance would no longer pay for a PSA test. I told him to do it anyway and I’d pay out of pocket if need be. It’s a good test and can give peace of mind if nothing else.
Reading that you can see: There was a man.
The news of his passing comes from Senator Shaheen’s office and only her office. That is very odd.
Rest well General Cone. God be with your family.
Rest Well Sir
Salute….
Same age as my Dad when he passed from leukemia. RIP General.
RIP General Cone. Condolences to his family and friends.
Fear Not, Sir! And RIP.
Is that what took General Schwarzkopf? Remembering that he had prostate cancer, but don’t recall reading what it was that took him.
Think it was pneumonia iirc.
Correct, on both counts.
Per published accounts Schwarzkopf was diagnosed with prostate cancer in his late 50s also (1993), but was successfully treated. He died nearly 20 years afterwards (2012) of complications from pneumonia, at age 78.
I served under his command in Apache Troop 1/3rd ACR at Ft. Bliss, TX. 94-95. He was the Tiger Squadron Commander (1st Squadron 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment). At the time our XO was Maj Abrams (idiot) and CSM Webster (now heads the 1st Cavalry Division Association). My fondest memory serving in 3rd Cav we rotated thru NTC in 95 and beat the OPFOR in 4 engagements and fought to a draw in one engagement. He new how to fight his Squadron. We beat the OPFOR so bad they were pulling personnel from leave and wherever they could just to replenish their ranks. Our last engagement with the OPFOR the Squadron was in the attack. Using the weather and the terrain, our chem units had set out in the middle of the night and commenced to laying a smoke screen over the entire valley floor. Some scouts dismounted from their Bradley’s and stealthily took out some of the OPFORS OP/over watch positions effectively blinding the OPFOR of our movements. At sun rise Apache troop led the Squadron in the attack with the rest of the Squadron on line closely behind. The OPFOR commander said he had never seen anything like it before. He said that all they could see that morning was a thick blinding smoke screen obscuring the valley floor. Then out of no where tanks and Bradley’s came flying out of the smoke screen on line at about 35mph cross country. (This is exactly how we had trained many times at Ft. Bliss). The tanks attacked and destroyed the OPFOR positions so fast that they didn’t have time to react and fall back. Our mortar sections and How Batt.’s provided support by continually displacing and keeping up with the running gun fight. Long knife (4th Squadron, aviation AH-1F’s) Caught an OPFOR tank company in a box canyon waiting for our attack to pass by and come out and attack us in the rear. Long knife killed them in the canyon. Apache Troop Mortar section finished off a few more OPFOR armor later on. Just as we had trained over… Read more »
What an awesome recollection. I just found this site. I bury Bob next Friday at Arlington and it is memories like the one you shared that give me some relief from the grief.
Great post, as I recall Abrams was the S3 at Fort Bliss. Even thou, he had his moments like putting JP8 into antifreeze. I also recall when he moved up to Regiment as the RS3 General Cone would refer to him as the Emperor, but he would never explain as to why especially around the enlisted. This includes yours truly. As for Webster, he was 3 ACR RCSM. This ended when he was wrongfully fired by Col Young aka “Chainsaw” that guy was a nut job. In sum, General Cone was a great officer and a terrific leader. During the time I was assigned to 1/3 ACR, it was an honor to serve under him. I like to think that good old cavalry soldiers like General Cone never die. They just go to Fiddlers Green.
RIP Tiger 6
I served with General Cone at Fort Carson as his Tiger Smoke in the 3 shop. It was a pleasure to serve with him. He was an excellent Leader and role model. His mentorship was without peer. I have many fond memories of serving with him in the Tiger Squadron. His presence lives on in the lives of the Soldiers that he so ably led! ‘Brave Rifles!’