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James A., A1C Widlar ( Jim/ V31ZF)
to remember
Colley, Michael C., VADM.
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Contact Info
Home Town Wheaton
Last Address Gulf Shores, AL
Date of Passing Jan 19, 2013
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Vice Admiral Michael Christian Colley, USN Retired
VADM Michael C. Colley, born in Wheaton, Minnesota, on 19 February 1938, passed away unexpectedly at his home in Gulf Shores, Alabama, on 19 January 2013. Colley received a Congressional appointment from Beaverton, OR, and graduated with distinction on 8 June 1960 as a member of the Third Company. Following graduation, he married Arlen Schneider from his high school class and served on PRICHETT (DD-561) from which he was selected for submarines and the Navy Nuclear Program with training at Mare Island and Idaho Falls, and special training at Westinghouse. He subsequently served on JAMES MADISON (SSBN-627) and CASIMIR PULASKI (SSBN-633) before attending Naval Postgraduate School. After a tour as Executive Officer of SUNFISH (SSN-649), he servedon Admiral Rickover’s staff at Naval Reactors for three years and then as Commanding Officer of NARWHAL (SSN-671). He subsequently served as Director, Division of Mathematics and Science at the Naval Academy; Commanding Officer of PROTEUS (AS- 19) on Guam with deployments to Diego Garcia and Freemantle; and Commander Submarine Squadron TWO. After selection to flag in 1984, he served as PERS-6 Ombudsman; Commander, Naval Recruiting Command; Deputy Commander, Submarine Division OPNAV; and Commander Submarine Forces, Pacific. Selected for Vice Admiral, he completed his active duty as Deputy CINC, US Strategic Command in Omaha, NE.
Admiral Colley’s personal awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal with gold star, the Legion of Merit with three gold stars, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Navy Commendation Medal with gold star.
Michael loved his country and enjoyed its sights; he and Arlen particularly enjoyed traveling about the country in motor homes. He was an enthusiastic and dedicated golfer, history buff, and libertarian.
After retiring from the Navy in March 1994, he returned to Springfield, VA, where he was active in the national security policy and analysis field. He conducted an extensive study of military power projection, the future of warfare, the U.S. infrastructure protection and homeland security, international nuclear material smuggling, and the identification and characterization of worldwide underground facilities.
Arlen, his wife for more than 40 years, died in 2001 and, shortly thereafter, Michael retired to Gulf Shores, Alabama. He is survived by his two daughters, Kendall Colley of Fairfax, VA, and Allison (Bruce) Bollschweiler of Thornton, CO; two grandsons, Calvin and Mark Bollschweiler; and a brother, Dane Lundquist, of Colorado Springs, CO. He was cremated and interred alongside Arlen at Arlington National Cemetery.
Other Comments:
Offutt Navel Air Station,NE
Gulf War/Defense of Saudi Arabia /Operation Desert Shield
From Month/Year
August / 1990
To Month/Year
January / 1991
Description
In 1990, fellow Arab Gulf states refused to endorse Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's plan to cut production and raise the price of oil, leaving him frustrated and paranoid. Iraq had incurred a mountain of debt during its war with Iran that had lasted for most of the previous decade, and the Iraqi President felt that his Arab brothers were conspiring against him by refusing to raise oil prices. Therefore, after weeks of massing troops along the Iraq-Kuwait border and accusing Kuwait of various crimes, Hussein sent seven divisions of the Iraqi Army into Kuwait in the early morning hours of 2 August 1990. The invasion force of 120,000 troops and 2,000 tanks quickly overwhelmed Iraq's neighbor to the south, allowing Hussein to declare, in less than a week, that Kuwait was his nation's nineteenth province. The United Nations responded quickly, passing a series of resolutions that condemned the invasion, called for an immediate withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait, imposed a financial and trade embargo on Iraq, and declared the annexation void.
Regarding Iraq's actions as a threat to a vital interest of the US, namely the oil production capability of the Persian Gulf region, President George Bush ordered warplanes and ground forces to Saudi Arabia after obtaining King Fahd's approval. Iraqi troops had begun to mass along the Saudi border, breaching it at some points, and indicating the possibility that Hussein's forces would continue south into Saudi Arabia's oil fields. Operation DESERT SHIELD, the US military deployment to first defend Saudi Arabia grew rapidly to become the largest American deployment since the Southeast Asia Conflict. The Gulf region was within US Central Command's (CENTCOM) area of responsibility. Eventually, 30 nations joined the military coalition arrayed against Iraq, with a further 18 countries supplying economic, humanitarian, or other type of assistance.
Carriers in the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea responded, US Air Force interceptors deployed from bases in the United States, and airlift transports carried US Army airborne troopers to Saudi Arabia. Navy prepositioning ships rushed equipment and supplies for an entire marine brigade from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to the gulf. During the next six months the United States and its allies built up a powerful force in the Arabian peninsula. The navy also began maritime intercept operations in support of a US-led blockade and United Nations sanctions against Iraq.
Coalition forces, specifically XVIII Airborne Corps and VII Corps, used deception cells to create the impression that they were going to attack near the Kuwaiti boot heel, as opposed to the "left hook" strategy actually implemented. XVIII Airborne Corps set up "Forward Operating Base Weasel" near the boot heel, consisting of a phony network of camps manned by several dozen soldiers. Using portable radio equipment, cued by computers, phony radio messages were passed between fictitious headquarters. In addition, smoke generators and loudspeakers playing tape-recorded tank and truck noises were used, as were inflatable Humvees and helicopters.
On 17 January 1991, when it became clear that Saddam would not withdraw, Desert Shield became Desert Storm.
