Shaggy, Maxi Priest Pay Tribute To General Colin Powell
Dancehall megastar and Persian Gulf War veteran Shaggy has paid his respects to General Colin Powell following the announcement of the death of the war hero, a Jamaican descendant, under whose command he once served.
The General, according to news reports, died of COVID-related complications today at age 84 at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in Bethesda, Maryland, where he had undergone treatment for multiple myeloma.
Shaggy, who enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at age 18 in 1988, as a means of acquiring a steady income, was sent to Kuwait for a five-month tour of duty two years later, where he served with a Field Artillery Battery in the 10th Marine Regiment during the Persian Gulf War, also known as Operation Desert Storm.
“Rest well General!!! You did your thang!! You got us through a war with very little casualties, which I fought, thank you for your service! 🇺🇸🇯🇲,” he noted as he hailed the late General.
Shaggy’s friend and fellow Reggae artist Maxi Priest, who is of Jamaican descent, also hailed General Powell, whose roots are grounded in St. Elizabeth, just like his own.
“My condolences and prayers to the Powell family on the loss of the General Colin Powell, one of the greatest men of our generation… Salute to you Mr Powell!” Maxi who was born in Britain noted.
“His family roots are from the same place where my parents came from, St Elizabeth, Jamaica. I always felt connected to him. I would stop to listen whenever I saw his face on TV or heard his name…always big and proud of his connection to Jamaica, a motivation to all. RIP king!” the House Call artiste added.
General Powell was born in Harlem in the United States to Jamaican parents Luther and Maud, who were both from Top Hill in the parish of St Elizabeth.
His parents had settled in the South Bronx, New York, where his father first worked as a gardener, and then as a foreman in an established garment manufacturing company, while his mother, a dressmaker became a stay-at-home mom.
The Four Star General retired from the military in 1993, after an illustrious career as commander, national security advisor, and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff (US Army, Navy, and Air Force).
In 2001 he returned to public service as Secretary of State, the first African American to do so.
The General and his wife and Alma visited Jamaica in 1992, while he was still Chief of Staff, where he visited his parents’ old home in Top Hill and later flew by helicopter over Westmoreland, the parish where her parents originated.
Today, the New York Times referred to General Powell as the nation’s top soldier, diplomat and national security adviser, “whose speech at the United Nations in 2003 helped pave the way for the United States to go to war in Iraq”.
In the early years of his 35-year military life, General Powell, served two decorated combat tours in Vietnam. He went on to serve as the country’s first Black National Security Adviser, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State.
A graduate of the City College of New York, he had joined the Army through the R.O.T.C. starting as a young second lieutenant commissioned in the dawn of a newly desegregated Army, according to the New York Times.
He later became national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan at the end of the Cold War, helping to negotiate arms treaties and an era of cooperation with the Soviet president, Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
In addition to the Persian Gulf War, General Powell was also the planner of the Panama invasion in 1989, and was instrumental in reshaping the American Cold War military.
He gained acclaim in the post-Cold War era as the most popular and influential US military leader, in a period in which he espoused a doctrine on military operations which comprised identifying clear political objectives, gaining public support and using decisive and overwhelming force to defeat the enemy.