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" Public, noncommercial broadcasting is also giving kids social-emotional skills like persistence and self-control that are fundamental to success in school, not to mention in the military, the institution where I spent most of my career. "

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" 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

Shaving

Soldier

Long

" 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

Think

People

Need

" I can't sculpt. But if I were a sculptor, as you start to get something that actually looks like what you want, then it starts to be fun. That's the way I find writing. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Find

You

Writing

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

Stanley A. McChrystal

Great

Facts

America

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

Stanley A. McChrystal

War

Think

Patience

" 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

Think

Mind

Life Is Hard

" I resolved to try to steer clear of politics. That wasn't easy. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Try

Politics

Easy

" When I was a lieutenant in Special Forces many many years ago, I thought I was getting fat. And I started running, and I started running distance, which I enjoyed. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Thought

Special

Running

" The military does very well taking average people and making them very good leaders. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Good

Military

People

" We want to make the insurgents come to us. Make them be the aggressors. What I want to do is get on the inside looking out - instead of being on the outside looking in. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Looking

Out

Outside

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

Stanley A. McChrystal

Believer

Support

People

" Public broadcasting makes our nation smarter, stronger and, yes, safer. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Broadcasting

Stronger

Yes

" Wars often begin with enthusiastic vigor but typically settle into costly, dirty business characterized for soldiers by fear, frustration, and loneliness. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Loneliness

Frustration

Business

" The challenge that we faced with the arrival of the Obama administration is, they didn't really have time to build trust before they had to make big, difficult decisions. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Build

Time

Trust

" When I arrived in the summer of 2009 to command the war in Afghanistan, I entered an effort that was failing. Many Afghans, some ISAF coalition members, and much of the American public had lost confidence in both the trajectory of the war and our ability to correct it. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

American

Effort

Lost

" 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

Challenge

Job

Media

" How we present ourselves matters a lot, and that's every American, not just at the senior levels. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

American

Senior

Matters

" I think my biggest achievement was being part of a team of outstanding, entrepreneurial military leaders and civilians who helped change the way in which America fights by transforming a global special operations task force - Task Force 714 - that I commanded. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Change

Achievement

Way

" Americans enjoy the exciting, cinematic vision of a squad of muscle-bound Goliath boasting Olympian speed, strength, and precision - a group whose collective success is the inevitable consequence of the individual strengths of its members and the masterful planning of a visionary commander. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Vision

Strength

Success

" The eight years of war since 9/11 had meant several Christmases away from home for most of these men. For soldiers at war, there's comforting continuity in the traditions and inevitability of Christmas. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

War

Christmas

Home

" A year of service has the power to bring young people together from different races, ethnicities, incomes, faiths, and political backgrounds to work on pressing problems facing U.S. society today. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Service

Work

Together

" There is no avoiding the realities of the information age. Its effects manifest differently in different sectors, but the drivers of speed and interdependence will impact us all. Organizations that continue to use 20th-century tools in today's complex environment do so at their own peril. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Today

Age

Environment

" I knew from history that war comes with frightening regularity, often fought over the same ground and similar causes as previous conflicts. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Ground

Same

Over

" We are a nation of innovators and problem-solvers who sparked revolutions in democratic government, civil rights, communications, flight, rural electrification and technology. We are a country defined by ideals now in need of rescue. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Need

Government

Flight

" 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

Organization

Impossible

Intelligence

" 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

Challenges

Travel

Road

" Defeat the Taliban. Secure the population. "

Stanley A. McChrystal

Taliban

Secure

Population

" 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

Nature

Trust

" 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

Problems

Time

Organization

" 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

Effort

World

Special