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" Defeat the Taliban. Secure the population. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

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" If we want to be members of the world community, we need to think that way. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" There is only one Army in which you serve. When that identity is gone, it is gone forever. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" We need a strong civil society where the connection between different people and groups is firm and vibrant, not brittle and divided. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" Our bureaucracy had excelled at compartmentalizing intelligence - we had a 'need to know' system - but by 2004, it was impossible to foresee what elements of our organization would and would not need to know a given piece of information. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" I go back and think of President Kennedy, who had a military service background, but he comes into the presidency, and he's faced with a decision on the Bay of Pigs, with the C.I.A. and the military giving him data, and it turns out very badly. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" Christmases with Polish and Romanian troops, including religious ceremonies in crude bunkers and huts, were deeply spiritual experiences. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" If you talk to a British officer or NCO about the strategic objectives of the end state, you'll often get a spirited discussion that's very well informed. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" There's this intense media spotlight; there's a need to be transparent, and, 'Oh, by the way, I'm also trying to fight a war at the same time.' It's a challenge, but it goes with the job. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" There's an art to asking questions. Briefings are valuable but normally communicate primarily what the subordinate leader wants you to know, and often the picture they provide is incomplete. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" America needs a big idea that plays to its strength. It should look to national service. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" Leaders must establish common purpose and build trust within an organization. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" How Americans restore trust may be an existential question for their country, then, but it's ultimately a practical one: What U.S. society needs to answer it in the coming years aren't lamentations but practical measures, especially among the emerging generations that will define America's future. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" I had known Colonel Charlie Flynn since he was a lieutenant 23 years earlier, and I remembered how his first child, Molly, had been born while Charlie was deployed to the first Gulf War. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" Over my career, I'd watched senior leader visits have unintended negative consequences. Typically, schedules were unrealistically overloaded and were modified during the visit to cancel parts of the plan. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" I think every war certainly wears on national will and national patience, particularly a counterinsurgency. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" Political campaigns offer Americans an opportunity to adjust direction, reaffirm values, and recommit to the covenant that binds them together. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" Like leaders in many walks of life, my business has been to serve with, and for, others. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" The basic DNA we've got to implant in leaders now is adaptability: not to get wedded to the solution to a particular problem, because not only the problem but the solution changes day to day. Creating people who are hardwired for that is going to be our challenge for the future. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" You're going to find out who your friends are. Anything that happens in your life is one of those challenges. It may not be at the level of celebrity, but everybody's going to travel that road. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" When you go through some controversy and you see your face on the news in a negative way for 48 hours... you doubt yourself. And your friends make the difference. They become a safety net that come in and say, 'That's not the case.' And the relationships that you've built... come to the fore. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" The number of people in America killed by firearms is extraordinary compared to other nations, and I don't think we're a bloodthirsty country. We need to look at everything we can do to safeguard our people. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" If you sit down with British officers or British senior NCOs, they understand the sweep of history. They know the history of British forces not just in Afghanistan but the history of British successful counter-insurgencies - Northern Ireland, Malaysia. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" Any war or conflict you enter where you are likely to lose more Americans and expend more treasure is something worthy of very detailed debate. There ought to be a lot of skepticism. There ought to be a lot of discussion. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" I think life is hard at the combat outposts, and anything that distracts us from supporting them, in my mind, is something that we shouldn't do. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" A fundamental principle that I learned in my career, and a principle that my consulting company McChrystal Group helps American civilian companies to adopt, is that winning units and organizations ensure that the time they actually spend - daily, weekly, and yearly - must hew closely to their priorities. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" If we are visiting Afghans, typically the Afghan governor, district or provincial governor, we see he doesn't wear body armor, and yet we're walking through his streets. I'm his guest. I think that that's important that I send a message that I trust him and I don't think I am more valuable than I think he is. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" As our leaders in Washington confront tough decisions about our budget priorities, I urge them to continue federal funding for public broadcasting. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" Change is painful, and people are always reticent to accept a lot of pain. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" If who you were was entirely based upon the position you were in or the headlines you got in the newspaper, or you had essentially subcontracted out your self-worth to the judgments of others, then you're going to be like tumbleweed. You're going to be blown. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" In June 2010, after more than 38 years in uniform, in the midst of commanding a 46-nation coalition in a complex war in Afghanistan, my world changed suddenly - and profoundly. An article in 'Rolling Stone' magazine depicting me, and people I admired, in a manner that felt as unfamiliar as it was unfair, ignited a firestorm. "

Stanley A. McChrystal