According to the General Officer Management Office, funeral arrangements
have not yet been completed, but initial plans are for Arlington National
Cemetery on Friday, 22 September.

More as I get it.

Don Snedeker
703-676-4019

Lt. Gen. Robert Schweitzer Dies
XO HHT 11th ACR Jan. 70- Jan 71
Life Member 11th ACVVC

By Richard Pearson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday , September 18, 2000 ; B06

Robert L. Schweitzer, 72, a retired Army lieutenant general who held high staff posts at the Pentagon and the National Security Council and who was a heavily decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam War, died of cancer Sept. 16 at Walter Reed Army
Hospital. He lived in Springfield.

Gen. Schweitzer, as a major and lieutenant colonel, led troops in combat in the 1960s during six tours in Vietnam, where his assignments included that of deputy commander of a cavalry regiment.

His decorations included the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army's highest award for valor after the Medal of Honor, two Distinguished Service Medals, three Silver Stars, two awards of the Legion of Merit and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He also held four Bronze Stars for valor, seven Purple Heart medals, 21 Air Medals, two Army Commendation Medals, the
Soldiers Medal and the Defense Superior Service Medal.

During his 36-year Army career, Gen. Schweitzer also held high strategic planning posts at the Pentagon and was policy branch chief at NATO headquarters under Army Gen. Alexander Haig. He also served on the NSC staff under Haig when Henry
Kissinger was the national security adviser.

At the beginning of the Reagan administration in January 1981, he rejoined
the NSC as its defense group director; the then-major general was the council's top military officer. In October 1981, he was relieved of that post after giving a highly publicized speech to a convention of the Association of the United States Army that administration officials said was unauthorized and "at some degree of variance" with President Reagan's views.

In his remarks, Gen. Schweitzer claimed that Moscow had nuclear superiority over this country in all three "legs" of the strategic triad of land-based and submarine-based missiles and strategic bombers--views not shared by the administration. He spoke of a "drift toward war" and maintained that the "Soviets are on the move; they are going to strike." He also said that the United States was "in the greatest danger that the republic has ever faced since
its founding days."

Administration officials, including Reagan, said they did not believe the country was edging toward war. Richard V. Allen, the NSC chief, said that Gen. Schweitzer had broken a rule that all public remarks by NSC staffers be cleared by him in advance, and that, with "great regret," he was relieving the general of his post.

Gen. Schweitzer took his relief with grace and said that he was looking forward to returning to more traditional Army duties. He made the point that he was not used to political controversy when he told reporters, "The last time I had any contact with the political area, I was head of the Army Colonels for McGovern at Harvard, the smallest political constituency on the face of the Earth."

After leaving the NSC, he returned to the Pentagon and was promoted to lieutenant general. He was chairman of the Inter-American Defense Board at Fort McNair from 1982 until retiring from active duty in 1987. After that, he served for a time as national strategy program director of the U.S. Global Strategy Council.

Gen. Schweitzer, a native of Chicago, was an honors graduate of the University of Maryland, received a master's degree with honors from Georgetown University and received another master's degree, in military arts and science, from the Army Command and Staff College. He also was a graduate of the Army War College and the Army's Armor, Infantry, Aviation,
Intelligence and Special Warfare schools, and had been a fellow of Harvard University's Center for International Affairs.

His Pentagon posts included tours as strategy, plans and policy director and assistant deputy chief of staff of the Army for operations and plans. His marriage to Nancy Schweitzer ended in divorce. Their son, Michael, died in 1973.

Survivors include his wife of 18 years, Marie Silvia Schweitzer of Springfield; five children by his first marriage, James Schweitzer of Omaha, Neil Schweitzer of Indiana, Joe Schweitzer of Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Kathy Schweitzer of Manassas and Marty Schweitzer of Fort Monroe, Va.; a brother; a sister; and three grandchildren.

                                  © 2000 The Washington Post Company