Peaches Petraeus

Flashback: When David Petraeus was simply known as "Peaches" & was a member of the "French Club"

An amusing entry from the 1974 West Point yearbook: David Howell Petraeus, who today takes over the CIA.

Peaches has come a long way from his days with the French Club.

UPDATE: Mark Thompson provides the backstory:

As a cadet at West Point, he was known as Peaches. “When I was a kid playing Little League baseball, and you know, you’ve got a name like Petraeus, nobody could pronounce that, and I sort of looked probably a little like a peach in those days when I was the age of eight or nine, and came up to bat in the Little League game, and the announcer said, `Now at bat is David P-P- P-Peaches,'” Petraeus explains. “And it stuck. And if you asked my classmates at West Point, which is about as far as it went, you know, about me, they will always respond with that.”

via Jeremy Scahill

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Jay Tea says:

    Be a bit more respectful of my fellow New Hampshirite, sir, if you please.

    We’re mighty proud of our adopted son. Not everyone is as fortunate as I am to be born here; others need a little time to properly educate themselves and come here.

    J.

  2. michael reynolds says:

    Should I ever meet General, now Mister, Petraeus, I don’t believe I’ll try calling him “Peaches.”

  3. James Joyner says:

    @michael reynolds: Apparently, those who’ve known him for years still call him that. But, no, I wouldn’t be so bold either.