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Read related » Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's retirement ceremony marked by laughter and regret
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“A month earlier, McChrystal resigned from his command in Afghanistan after a Rolling Stone magazine article quoted him and his aides making derogatory remarks about senior Obama administration officials. The sunset ceremony, held at Fort McNair on the Anacostia River, marked McChrystal's retirement from the military after 34 years. […] He closed by urging his fellow officers to believe that success in today's wars is possible. "Caution and cynicism are safe, but soldiers don't want to follow cautious cynics," he said, his voice catching briefly. "They follow leaders who believe enough to risk failure and disappointment for a worthy cause".”
— By Greg Jaffe, Washington Post Staff Writer, July 24, 2010
“Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”Perhaps Gen. McChrystal was not the ideal theater commander, as the Second World War's gentlemanly General of the Army Eisenhower was (and his subordinate field commander, Gen. Patton was not). But there is no doubt that the military and political coordination skills necessary to lead multinational armies, which Eisenhower had in abundance, and neither Patton nor McChrystal did, were made up for by a warrior ethic that is the mark of a leader of men in battle.
— Order issued by Admiral David Farragut during the Battle of Mobile Bay
Though Gen. McChrystal ended his brilliant military career in a manner he might regret, his contributions to his nation's military objectives are beyond reproach. And they are honored by his countrymen.
Post 1,364 An Officer and a Warrior
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