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

Stanley A. McChrystal

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" I'm a believer in the Afghan people, so I support an increase in forces there. "

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" 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. "

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

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" 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. "

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" 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

" By nature, I tended to trust people and was typically open and transparent... But such transparency would go astray when others saw us out of context or when I gave trust to those few who were unworthy of it. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" What I really want are students who want to partner with other people, to be part of an organization and to influence people so that they can accomplish things that the organization would not have accomplished otherwise. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" In my life as a soldier and citizen, I have seen time and time again that inaction has dire consequences. "

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

" Military leaders, many of whom were students of counterinsurgency, recognized the dangers of an incremental escalation and the historical lesson that 'trailing' an insurgency typically condemned counterinsurgents to failure. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" Trust is an amazing commodity. The Afghan people often talk to me about having to develop trust in America, because they believe that we deserted them in 1990 and 1991. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" My very identity as a soldier came to an abrupt end. I'd been soldiering as long as I'd been shaving. Suddenly I'd been told I could no longer soldier, and it felt as though no one really cared if I ever shaved again. "

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. "

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" Throughout history, the organizational evolution of the military has been inextricably linked with that of the business world. "

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

" Leadership contains certain elements of good management, but it requires that you inspire, that you build durable trust. For an organization to be not just good but to win, leadership means evoking participation larger than the job description, commitment deeper than any job contract's wording. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" Empowering, cultivating, and ultimately serving those who follow you will unlock massive potential within your organization, allowing you to solve for problems in real time. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" We could do good things in Afghanistan for the next 100 years and fail. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" I said if you want me to go back to Afghanistan and work, I'm happy to do that. If you think accepting my resignation is best for the cause and for the nation, then I have no complaint with that. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" I want the American people to understand, we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan. "

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

" We need to defend against weaknesses within and enemies without, using the tools of civil society and hard power. We don't have to pick one over the other. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" Tensions and violence in cities across America are reminders of how quickly communities can erupt with an absence of social trust. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" As combat infantrymen and special operators, we received thousands of hours of firearms training. "

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" With my resignation, I... left unfulfilled commitments I made to many comrades in the fight, commitments I hold sacred. My service did not end as I would have wished. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" America needs a restart. It has long devoted its energies to solving its many big problems - unequal opportunity, crumbling infrastructure, lagging education, inadequate training in a changing economy, and threats to peace around the world. "

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

" One of the great things about America is we should not judge until we know the facts. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

" When I became commander of the Joint Special Operations Task Force, I was leading thousands of individuals, from Special Forces to the broader interagency effort. I quickly realized that while we had the most best and most effective operators and small teams in the world, we were unable to scale. "

Stanley A. McChrystal