Lieutenant General William Gus Pagonis (born April 30, 1941) served as the director of American

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

during the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

of 1991.

Career

Pagonis served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

for 29 years, retiring with the three-star rank of lieutenant general. He was commissioned into the United States (U.S.) Army through the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) in 1964. Pagonis attended the U.S. Army Infantry School in 1965. From February 1967 to February 1968, he served in Vietnam as Commander of the 1097th Transportation Company. He returned to Vietnam from June 1970 to November 1970 as Division Transportation Officer, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) and through July 1971 as Executive Officer, 2d Battalion (Airmobile), 501st Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile). Pagonis was Commanding General of the 22nd Theater Army Area Command,

United States Central Command The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilities of the Rapid Deployment Joint Tas ...

, Saudi Arabia, from August 1990 to January 1992; Deputy Commanding General, Materiel Readiness/Executive Director for Conventional Ammunition, U.S. Army Materiel Command from January 1992 to June 1992; and Commanding General, 21st Theater Army Area Command, U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army, Germany from June 1992 to October 1993. He retired October 31, 1993. While in the service, Pagonis attended the U.S. Army Transportation School, Pennsylvania State University, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Naval War College. He earned both a B.S. degree in Transportation and Traffic Management and a master's degree in Business Administration from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

. He is also a brother of the

Alpha Chi Rho Alpha Chi Rho (), commonly known as Crows, Crow, or AXP, is a men's collegiate fraternity founded on June 4, 1895, at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, by the Reverend Paul Ziegler, his son Carl Ziegler, and Carl's friends William H. Rous ...

fraternity. Pagonis is an American of Greek descent.

Gulf War

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Pagonis served as

Norman Schwarzkopf Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. (; August 22, 1934 – December 27, 2012) was a United States Army general. While serving as the commander of United States Central Command, he led all coalition forces in the Gulf War. Born in Trenton, Ne ...

's logistics advisor during the

. Pagonis was actually the first American to arrive in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, hours after it was decided to send troops. Lacking a hotel room, he had slept two nights in the back of his rented

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

near the port of

Dammam Dammam ( ar, الدمّام ') is the fifth-most populous city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh, Jeddah, Mecca, and Medina. It is the capital of the Eastern Province. With a total population of 1,252,523 as of 2020. The judicial and administrative ...

. He would be promoted to lieutenant general during the war. Pagonis retired from the position of head

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

Logistics Group in 2004, becoming a Chairman of the Board/Director for

RailAmerica RailAmerica, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, was a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada. In 2007, RailAmerica was acquired by Fortress Investment Group. Before that, it t ...

. He is also Vice-Chairman of GENCO ATC, a logistics firm based out of Pittsburgh and previously served as an advisor to CombineNet, Inc. Pagonis is also an author, having written ''Moving Mountains: Lessons in Leadership and Logistics from the Gulf War'', published by

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

Press.

References

External links

Lt. General William Pagonis, Gulf War logistics chief
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pagonis, William 1942 births Living people American people of Greek descent United States Army generals Military personnel from Florida United States Army personnel of the Gulf War United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War Recipients of the Silver Star Smeal College of Business alumni Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)