Changes

After attending the army's Infantry school at Ft. Benning and the Command and General Staff school  at Fort Leavenworth, Stilwell returned to China (1926-1929) as battalion commander and later executive officer of the Fifteenth Infantry an American regiment stationed in Tientsin as a result of the Boxer Rebellion. He watched the [[KMT|Kuomintang]] under [[Chiang Kai-shek]] unify the nation, assessing Chinese affairs  a series of weekly articles for the journal of the Fifteenth Infantry. His third China duty came in 1935-1939, when he returned as military attaché to observe, judge, and report the Japanese invasion, which began in 1937 and soon captured the major cities.  Stilwell formed a negative opinion of KMT leadership and came to believe that Chinese soldiers, so hopelessly weak, ill-armed and poorly led in the war with Japan,  could some day become the equal of any in the world, if they were properly led, trained, nourished, and equipped.

After attending the army's Infantry school at Ft. Benning and the Command and General Staff school  at Fort Leavenworth, Stilwell returned to China (1926-1929) as battalion commander and later executive officer of the Fifteenth Infantry an American regiment stationed in Tientsin as a result of the Boxer Rebellion. He watched the [[KMT|Kuomintang]] under [[Chiang Kai-shek]] unify the nation, assessing Chinese affairs  a series of weekly articles for the journal of the Fifteenth Infantry. His third China duty came in 1935-1939, when he returned as military attaché to observe, judge, and report the Japanese invasion, which began in 1937 and soon captured the major cities.  Stilwell formed a negative opinion of KMT leadership and came to believe that Chinese soldiers, so hopelessly weak, ill-armed and poorly led in the war with Japan,  could some day become the equal of any in the world, if they were properly led, trained, nourished, and equipped.

==Army promotions==

==Army promotions==

From 1929 to 1933, Stilwell served as chief of the tactical section at the Infantry School, under the direction of Col. [[George C. Marshall]]. Marshall had high praise for Stilwell as "a genius for instruction," who was "ahead of his time in tactics and technique," and, although personally unassuming, was one of the "exceptionally brilliant and cultured men of the army."<ref>Barbara Wertheim Tuchman, ''Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45'' (1970) [http://books.google.com/books?id=cmGWftWcnL4C&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=%22exceptionally+brilliant+and+cultured+men+of+the+army%22&source=web&ots=nc0ZTCXnHd&sig=5QCySrbhYCCnss35-30JTHTMK8o&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result online p.125]</ref>  Stilwell was instantly repelled by incompetence or pretentiousness. A man of utter integrity, he was a fighter and a doer, whose too-quick disgust for anything less in others made him at times, as Marshall later said, "his own worst enemy."<ref>Tuchman, ''Stilwell,'' [http://books.google.com/books?id=cmGWftWcnL4C&pg=PA425&vq=%22worst+enemy%22&dq=%22exceptionally+brilliant+and+cultured+men+of+the+army%22&source=gbs_search_s&sig=ACfU3U3clQ1j8FouWoHL3flvbkSx3xRRXw  p. 425 online]</ref> His unsparing and acid critiques earned him the nickname "Vinegar Joe."   

From 1929 to 1933, Stilwell served as chief of the tactical section at the Infantry School, under the direction of Col. [[George C. Marshall]]. Marshall had high praise for Stilwell as "a genius for instruction," who was "ahead of his time in tactics and technique," and, although personally unassuming, was one of the "exceptionally brilliant and cultured men of the army."<ref>Barbara Wertheim Tuchman, ''Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45'' (1970) [https://books.google.com/books?id=cmGWftWcnL4C&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=%22exceptionally+brilliant+and+cultured+men+of+the+army%22&source=web&ots=nc0ZTCXnHd&sig=5QCySrbhYCCnss35-30JTHTMK8o&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result online p.125]</ref>  Stilwell was instantly repelled by incompetence or pretentiousness. A man of utter integrity, he was a fighter and a doer, whose too-quick disgust for anything less in others made him at times, as Marshall later said, "his own worst enemy."<ref>Tuchman, ''Stilwell,'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=cmGWftWcnL4C&pg=PA425&vq=%22worst+enemy%22&dq=%22exceptionally+brilliant+and+cultured+men+of+the+army%22&source=gbs_search_s&sig=ACfU3U3clQ1j8FouWoHL3flvbkSx3xRRXw  p. 425 online]</ref> His unsparing and acid critiques earned him the nickname "Vinegar Joe."   

Marshall promoted his career and by late 1941, Stilwell had commanded the Third Infantry Brigade (1939), the Seventh Division (1940), and the III Corps (1940-1941) and had been promoted to major general (1940). By virtue of his training of troops and his mastery of tactics in troop maneuvers, he was rated the army's best corps commander. After Pearl Harbor Marshall brought him to Washington to command GYMNAST, a planned landing in North Africa, but that operation was postponed.  

Marshall promoted his career and by late 1941, Stilwell had commanded the Third Infantry Brigade (1939), the Seventh Division (1940), and the III Corps (1940-1941) and had been promoted to major general (1940). By virtue of his training of troops and his mastery of tactics in troop maneuvers, he was rated the army's best corps commander. After Pearl Harbor Marshall brought him to Washington to command GYMNAST, a planned landing in North Africa, but that operation was postponed.