FORT JACKSON, S.C. (March 19, 2015) -- There was a time when Timothy Maude's future in the Army was uncertain.
As a lieutenant, the future Army personnel chief received a "poor" Officer Evaluation Report that threatened to derail his career before it really started, said Stephen Bower, command historian for the Soldier Support Institute. After receiving a promotion to captain, though, Maude decided he wanted to make a career of the Army -- a task that involved redeeming his earlier evaluations.
"I knew him pretty well, but I learned some new things writing this," said Bower, the author of the new biography, "I'm Tim Maude, and I'm a Soldier."
Maude shares the distinction of being among the highest-ranking Service member to lose his life while on active duty. He was killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. At the time of his death, he was serving as the deputy chief of staff for personnel, the Army's chief executor of personnel policy.
The SSI's Maude Leadership Lecture Series, an annual event created to inspire young Soldiers to become strong leaders in the Army, is named in his honor.
"I was a friend of the family," said Bower, who served with Maude at the Soldier Support Center at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. "(Maude's wife) thought that I might be a good choice to write a biography of her husband. We got together and mapped out the project. It took several years to complete, but we finally got it done."
The biography begins with Maude's death and funeral, before leaping backward to chronicle his early life and military career. Despite his close association with the family, Bower said his research lead him to some surprising places.
"He was a committed Catholic, a very religious person," Bower said. "But he didn't wear his religion on his sleeve … which is one of the reasons I probably didn't pick up on it during the time I knew him."
A native of Indianapolis, Maude joined the Army in 1966 at the age of 18. He had originally planned to become a priest, but instead chose to pursue a career in the Army after receiving his commission as a second lieutenant the following year.
Maude was also one of only five members of the Army's Adjutant General's Corps to rise to the rank of lieutenant general. He is credited with making the "Army of One" recruiting campaign a success.
"I'm Tim Maude, and I'm a Soldier" went on sale in February.
Social Sharing