Crosbie was born in West Point, New York, as the son of Frederick G. Saint and Jean Crosbie Saint. His nickname was Butch. His older brother was Charles Prather from his mother's first marriage. Charles would later change his name to Saint. Crosbie's father was a 1931 graduate of West Point, who earned a graduate degree at Princeton University, served as an instructor at West Point and then was shipped to the Philippines "in about 1938," Crosbie believes. All the family went with him and were there as American entered World War II. The boys and their mother "got the last boat out" of the Philippines before the Japanese invaded. Crosbie was six. His father served in the 14^th Engineers of Philippine scouts. He was captured at Corregidor and spent much of the war as a prisoner of war until he was killed while aboard a Japanese ship. After the war Crosbie's mother married Major Steve Malevich. They would have a son, so that Crosbie eventually had a step-brother, as well as a half-brother and a half-sister. Meanwhile the family lived on a farm near Alexandria, Virginia, where Crosbie was in charge of the horses, pigs and chickens. After morning chores he walked two miles to catch a bus to Alexandria and St. Stephen's School. During the war the family grew a victory garden. They raised chickens on the farm and sold them on Main Street in Washington, D.C. from the back of a Model-T pickup truck. His mother, believing he needed manly influence, sent him to all-male Christ School in Arden, North Carolina when he was ll. Along with their studies the boys worked in maintaining the Episcopalian school and its farm. Crosbie was assigned to the kitchen where he helped the dishwasher, an African-American man he admired, Theodore Roosevelt McDaniel, Jr. "He must have been seven feet tall," Crosbie recalls. "He was a very wise guy." Meanwhile, his stepfather was put in charge of building a nerve gas plant in Colorado, and moved the family with him. Crosbie graduated from Christ School and entered the United States Military Academy, where Charles was two years ahead of him. Crosbie graduated in 1958 as a second lieutenant in armor. After airborne and ranger schools at Fort Benning, he was sent to Bad Hersfeld, Germany where he was on border patrol between West and East Germany. "The night the Ruassians built the wall I was on the border with my platoon and my tank was loaded. So it was exciting," he recalls. Serving in 3^rd Squadron, 14^th Cavalry, Crosbie remained in Germany nearly three years. On August 3, 1963, he married Virginia C. Carnahan. (They would have two children and five grandchildren.) He was selected as an aide to the deputy-commanding general of 5^th Corps in Frankfort. He followed the general to Fort Knox where he was commander first of the training center, then of the armor school and center. Crosbie got orders for advanced class at Fort Knox, then orders to Joint Chiefs of Staff. By then he was a 1^st lieutenant, and in charge of protocol. He also ran slide machines in meetings. "I heard a lot of things that mortals weren't supposed to hear," he remarks. Crosbie completed a second tour in Germany, and served at Fort Benning as an instructor in tank and mine warfare. Next he was sent to Fort Hood, Texas to 1^st Squadron, 1^st Cavalry before going to Vietnam for the first of two tours. There he participated in Task Force Oregon. The squadron (some 1100 men), along with a unit of scout and attack helicopters and infantry (8^th Cavalry or better known as "Blue Ghosts") fought to clear NVA and Viet Cong from around a city called Tam Ky. Several times he cooperated with his brother, LTC Charles Saint who was battalion commander of 3^rd Battalion, 21^st Infantry, based at LZ Center. Charles' infantry battalion fought the enemy in the mountains and got them on the run to the flat land, where Crosbie waited with his squadron of tanks. Crosbie never let his men loiter between operations, but continually trained them. After six months in the field he became deputy G-3 of the 23^rd Infantry Division (Americal). Returning to the States, he served in an armor branch assignment near Washington, D.C., then was selected as commander of 1^st Squadron, 1^st Cavalry with it's A-3 and Sheridan tanks, and based at Hawk Hill in South Vietnam. Working alongside them were the Blue Ghosts. "We were like bird dogs. We would flush the enemy out and then the attack helicopters would go get them." As S-3 Crosbie, by then a major looked over all intelligence reports and determine the location of the enemy. One troop of the squadron was out in the field at all times, he remarks. In his second tour he commanded all five cavalry troops in the three brigades of 23^rd Infantry Division, Americal. Often he was fighting companies and even whole battalions of the enemy. To communicate with his wife, he sent tapes instead of writing letters. In his second tour, Crosbie spent four months in the field and became division G-3, based Chu Lai. He helped halt the attack of sappers against LZ Mary Ann, a base in the far west of I Corps that was due to be evacuated the next day. In "June or July" of 1971 Crosbie left Vietnam and earned a graduate degree at American University, then completed Armed Forces Staff College. He served in the pentagon in the chief of staff's office, then went to Europe as commander of 11^th Cavalry Regiment. He next served in Heidelberg as chief of exercise division, then was promoted to general as head of training staff officers in Europe. After a stint as deputy commander at Fort Leavenworth, he returned to Europe as Commander in Chief, U.S. Army Europe from 1988 to 1991, in command of some 500,000 personnel in England, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Turkey. He also was a NATO commander, in charge of two German Corps, a Canadian Corps, a French Corps and two American Corps. "I was like a one-armed paper hanger," he quips. He regards the Apache helicopter and its night vision capabilities as a great innovator of warfare. After the Berlin Wall fell he was working on draw down plans when the Gulf War began. He began deploying troops from Europe to the gulf. "We deployed faster to the Gulf and moved more soldiers than (General George S.) Patton ever dreamed of." With the help of the Germans, Dutch, and railway system he moved an entire corps of 700 tanks and three helicopter squadrons in 30 days. General Saint retired on September 1, 1992 as a four-star general. He resides on a horse farm in Philomont, Virginia.