Volney F . Warner Volney Frank Warner ( born June 7 , 1926 ) is a retired United States Army four - star general who served as Commander - in - Chief , United States Readiness Command ( USCINCRED ) from 1979 to 1981 . Early career . Warner was born in Woonsocket , South Dakota . He enlisted in the Navy in 1944 , then was transferred to the Army the following year upon receiving an alternate appointment from South Dakota to the United States Military Academy at West Point . Graduating in 1950 , he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Infantry . Almost immediately after graduation , he was ordered to Korea , where he served in combat as an Infantry platoon leader in L - Company of the 21st Infantry Regiment , 24th Infantry Division . In 1953 , Warner was reassigned to Europe where he served as a company commander and battalion staff officer in Trieste , Italy , Austria , and West Germany . Following attendance at the U . S . Marine Corps Advanced Course in Quantico , Virginia , Warner served a tour of duty at West Point as an instructor in the Department of Psychology and Leadership , after earning a Master of Arts Degree in Psychology from Vanderbilt University . In 1963 , Warner was reassigned as a Province Senior Advisor in South Vietnam . After returning from Vietnam in 1965 , he served in a variety of positions in Washington , D . C . , to include duty as the Military Assistant to the Special Assistant to the President for Vietnam Affairs . After earning a Masters of Science in International Relations from George Washington University , in 1969 Warner assumed command of the 3rd Brigade , 4th Infantry Division . Returning to the Pentagon in 1970 , Warner served as the Executive Officer and Senior Aide to the Army Chief of Staff . In 1972 Warner was reassigned to the 82nd Airborne Division , first as the Chief of Staff and then as the Assistant Division Commander for Operations . After the Wounded Knee Siege of 1973 , on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation , it was said that " Warner was the only one who really knew what he was doing . . . " . After a tour of duty as the United States Army Forces Command ( FORSCOM ) Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations , General Warner assumed command of the 9th Infantry Division in 1975 . Later in 1977 , Warner assumed command of the XVIII Airborne Corps . Commander in Chief , U . S . Readiness Command . In 1979 Warner assumed his duties as the Commander in Chief , Readiness Command ( REDCOM ) , headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa , Florida . His tenure as REDCOM commander coincided with the interservice debate over which unified command should have jurisdiction over the Middle East and the associated Rapid Deployment Force . In 1980 , the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force ( RDJTF ) was created under the command of Marine Lieutenant General Paul X . Kelley and based at MacDill Air Force Base . During planning and training exercises in the United States , the RDJTF reported to REDCOM , which was responsible for preparing United States - based Army and Air Force units for overseas deployment , but during operations the force was controlled by whichever headquarters had oversight over the territory in which it was deployed . Since the RDJTF was expected to operate mainly in the Middle East , permanent operational control over the force implied geographical responsibility for Southwest Asia . At the time , no unified command was specifically responsible for that increasingly critical region , which was divided between United States European Command and United States Pacific Command . Warner opposed proposals to assign the RDJTF to either European or Pacific Command , or to allow the RDJTF to oversee the Middle East as an autonomous command . Instead he asked that the land responsibility for Southwest Asia be returned to Readiness Command , which had overseen the Middle East and sub - Saharan Africa in its previous incarnation as United States Strike Command . Meanwhile , he insisted that as long as the RDJTF was headquartered in the United States , REDCOM was its governing unified command and the RDJTF should not continue to bypass the REDCOM commander by maintaining an independent office in Washington , D . C . The interservice controversy over which unified command should control the RDJTF created friction between the REDCOM and RDJTF headquarters staffs and eventually spilled into the press , which cast the debate as a personal feud between Warner and Kelley . " Unfortunately , we were both caught up in the service argument as to whether it should be a premier Army or Marine force , " Warner said . On April 25 , 1981 , Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger announced that the RDJTF would become a separate command with responsibility for Southwest Asia . Rebuffed in his attempt to renew the mandate of his command , Warner requested retirement , citing a lack of support from the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the debate . In parting , he observed that if the RDJTF were to be made an independent unified command , then REDCOM would be redundant and should be disestablished . The RDJTF became United States Central Command in 1983 and REDCOM was replaced by United States Special Operations Command in 1987 . Post - military . Warner retired from the Army on July 31 , 1981 . Subsequently , Warner was Vice President of Applied Technology , Vertex Systems , Incorporated , and later established V . F . Warner and Associates , a Washington - based consulting firm . He resides in McLean , Virginia . Personal life . Warner ' s awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal , Silver Star ( with Oak Leaf Cluster ) , Legion of Merit ( with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters ) , Distinguished Flying Cross , Bronze Star with V Device ( with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters ) , Meritorious Service Medal , Air Medal s with V Device , Army Commendation Medal with V Device ( with Oak Leaf Cluster ) , Combat Infantryman Badge ( 2nd Award ) , and Master Parachutist Badge . His military education includes the Command and General Staff College in 1963 ; Armed Forces Staff College in 1965 ; and the National War College in 1969 , at which time he also received a Master of Science degree in International Relations from George Washington University . Warner married Belva Janice Forbes in 1950 , and had two daughters and two sons , one a retired brigadier general and the other a retired colonel . On August 18 , 2005 , Warner ' s granddaughter , First Lieutenant Laura Margaret Walker , was killed in action in Delak , Afghanistan , making her the first female West Point graduate to die in combat . Warner has since come out to publicly criticize the Iraq War , and proposes pre - emptive peace as an alternative to pre - emptive war for the future . Other Areas of Interest / Relevance . AFGHANISTAN " Afghanistan : Context and What ' s Next " , by Volney F . Warner , Joint Force Quarterly , issue 56 , 1st quarter 2010 , NDU Press IRAQ " A Veteran General Hears Echoes from Vietnam in Iraq " , by Nancy A . Youssef , August , 6 , 2007 , McClatchy DC " Opening Statement before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations " " Getting Past Iraq " , by Volney F . Warner and as presented by him to the National War College Alumni on 25 October 2007 KOREA Korean War Educator , Veterans ' Memoirs , Volney Frank Warner " Company L ' s Four Days : from the Journal of Company L , 21st Infantry " , by Lindsey P . Henderson , Jr . , September 1951 " Combat Forces Journal " VIETNAM " Westy : Our Commander - in - Chief to the End " , by John B . Dwyer , American Thinker , 22 July 2005 " The U . S . Government and the Vietnam War : Executive and Legislative . . . , Part 4 " , by William Conrad Gibbons , pages 202 - 205 " Program for the Pacification and Long - Term Development of South Vietnam ( PROVN ) , Volume I , Chapter 2 " US Organization and Method of Operations " " , Volney F . Warner , principal author on study WOUNDED KNEE University of Tulsa McFarlin Library ' s inventory of the Kent Frizzell Wounded Knee papers housed in their special collections department " Ghost Dancing the Law : The Wounded Knee Trials " , by John William Sayer , pages 146 , 228 , 278 , 298 , 310 MISCELLANEOUS Laura Margaret Walker Eulogy Site Definition and Citation , " Boots on the Ground " , Double - Tongued Dictionary Boots on the Ground , " The New York Times Magazine " , " On Language : Let ' s Do This " , by William Safire , 7 November 2008 " Women in the Line of Fire : What You Should Know About Women in the Military " , by Erin Solaro ; Foreword by Volney F . Warner , USA ( Ret . ) , pages v - vi 2003 Firepower " National Chapter " Award " Reforming Military Command Arrangements : The Case of the Rapid Deployment Joint Taske Force " , by Henrik Bliddal ; see pages 25 - 47