Greatness from ordinary pragmatism – remembering the great General Luo

Former Chief of Staff, Senior General Luo Ben-li, passed away today at 1pm at the Taipei Tri-Service General Hospital at age 92. The Ministry of National Defense expresses the deepest condolences to the loss of an exceptional general. Senior General Luo was a strictly disciplined role model, who exceled both mentally and physically, and had been serving his country loyally for his entire life; his loyalty and superior ambition has become a learning model for the soldiers, with his endless ideas shining brightly on his exemplary noble character. Senior General Luo’s spirit will remain forever and he will always be one of the best teachers for the later generations.

Senior General Luo, a Hefei local, was born on March 14^th 1927; he witnessed the frequent internal troubles and the national turmoil in 1947, which made him decide to give up personal pursuits and joined the army, then he got enrolled into the 22^nd semester of the Republic of China Military Academy, and since then the life of military became his everything. Senior General Luo graduated from the military academy in 1949 and got transferred to the machine gun company of the 287 regiment under the 96^th division to serve as the platoon commander and deputy company commander; Luo then participated the Guangdong Yangjiang and White Sea Suppression Battle between October and November that same year, and fought fiercely with the enemy day and night without any consideration of his own life despite having sustained severe injuries. Senior General Luo then got transferred to Taiwan and received full military education from the regular course of the Army Command and General Staff College and the officer class of the War Academyof the Armed Forces University, and served positions including company commander, battalion commander, brigade commander, commander, Chief of Staff, division commander, army commander, dean of the Army Command and General Staff College, commander of the 6^th Army, deputy commander-in-chief of the Army Headquarters, principal of the Tri-Army University, commander-in-chief of the Combined Logistics Command, and deputy Chief of Staff.

During his time as the Chief of Staff in July 1995, Taiwan was facing the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, where the fighter aircrafts of the People’s Liberation Army began closing in on the median line of the Taiwan Strait and attempted to obstruct the democratic development in Taiwan through military intimidation; fortunately, Senior General Luo was composed when the country was at a time of crisis, and he personally went to Kinmen and Matsu 16 times to inspect the defense level, which has stabilized the Taiwan Strait situation and the public. In regard to the planning of army establishment and combat preparation, Senior General Luo has pushed forward critical administration including “Refined Program” and “Universal Love Program” with his prospective vision and incomparable resolution and determination, which have all contributed greatly to the increasingly sharpened combat capability of the Armed Forces. Senior General Luo resigned from his position in March 1998 and was transferred to be the strategic consultant at the Office of the President, where he was awarded with the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun, which is the highest honor a soldier can receive.

Senior General Luo was an honest, diligent officer who was loved by his fellow officers and soldiers and provided strict governance and emphasized on efficiency; he treated grassroots soldiers like his own children and often encouraged cadres of each level to “think downward with their hearts, look downward with their eyes, walk downward with their legs, and use their money downward”. Lastly, Senior General Luo’s greatness through ordinary pragmatism can be seen from one of his quotes “being a soldier is a poor occupation, but at the same time it is also a sublime career; you will not be able to go through the dull and endless military career, let alone the ordeal that is waiting for you on the battlefield if you do not have a certain self-expectation, self-disciplined courage and arrogance within you.”

Senior General Luo dedicated his entire life to the military and accomplished the major achievement of refining the army; his dedication and accomplishment will be remembered and respected forever, and the Army will learn from all of his teachings.