Our General Our Friend: Lessons in Leadership, Friendship, and Service from a Master

“...a tremendous troop leader who inspired his soldiers through his personal example of excellence and stamina." – Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State, General Colin Powell (Ret.) Some people make a difference everywhere they go. Burn Loeffke is one of those people. You can be, too. Major General Burn Loeffke (Ret.) was the Chief of Staff of the XVIII Airborne Corps, and Commanding General of the U.S. Army South. He served as Director of the White House Fellows program under President Nixon’s administration, and was the first American paratrooper to jump with a Chinese airborne unit. After retiring from the U.S. Army, Burn went to medical school so he could volunteer with missions groups in war-torn and impoverished countries around the world. And everywhere Burn went, he made friends. He served as a military attaché in Russia and China, and was the Chief of Staff of the XVIII Airborne Corps, and Commanding General of the U.S. Army South. Before retiring in 1992, he was the Chairman of the Inter-American Defense Board. He was an army swimming champion as a captain, competed in a military decathlon in Moscow as a colonel, and ran full-length marathons in China as a general. When you meet Burn, you can’t help but admire him. Not for all his accomplishments, but for who he is as a person. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” Burn Loeffke is the real thing. You don’t have to go to West Point to be like Burn. Through his story, this book teaches the qualities that made him an exemplary general—and an even better friend and person.

Eric Daniels is a licensed funeral director/embalmer in Florida. He is the author of The Greatest People I Never Knew and The Choices We Make Dictate the Life We Lead. He is a former sergeant first class and a ten-year army veteran who served as a paratrooper, air-assault and Panamanian Jungle (Pana-Jungla) expert. Eric is a former state representative in New Hampshire. He has earned an AG in General Studies, an AS in Funeral Science, and a BS in Management and Leadership. He serves on a National Ceremonial Funeral team as a part of LHT Consulting Group, which provides funerals for all U.S. presidents and first ladies, as well as many high net worth and notable individuals. Eric has seven grown children and six grandchildren. He and his wife, Denise, live in Melbourne, Florida. Jessica Daniels, Eric's daughter, is a dental student in New Hampshire. She is the mother of two children, Giuseppe and Isabella.