Last Friday, Pentagon and Army leaders all came out to honor
Gen. Stanley McChrystal in a
retirement ceremony complete with a full color guard, performances by the Army
band, and a 17-gun salute.
Defense Secretary Robert
Gates hosted the ceremony. We're told he made special arrangements to fly
home earlier than planned from his trip to Southeast Asia to attend the
ceremony. Gates got off the plane at 1:30 PM at Andrews Air Force Base and made
it to Fort McNair just in time for the event.
Gates praised McChrystal's years of terrorist hunting and
talked about how unique it was for a senior officer to get so heavily and
directly involved in the dangerous special operations missions his unit was
carrying out on a daily basis.
"As a lieutenant general, he went out on night missions with
his teams, subjecting himself to their hardships and dangers. After going
on one operation that resulted in a fire fight, some of his British comrades
awarded Stan the distinction of being the highest-paid rifleman in the United
States Army," Gates said.
Army Chief of Staff George
Casey spoke and a whole bevy of senior military officials and their wives
were in attendance, including Gen. James
Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Pete Chiarelli, the vice chief of Army
staff, and several foreign military officials. Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen was in Pakistan.
Casey told the story of the night that McChrystal's unit
successfully killed al Qaeda leader Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi
and
how McChrystal personally identified the body.
"Stan had the body brought to his
headquarters compound for identification. We decided not to tell anyone
until we were sure, so Stan went down to check out the body and called me. He
said, ‘General, we've been tracking this guy for two and a half years, and I
think it's him.' I said, ‘How sure are you?' He responded quietly,
‘I'm sure.' And that was the first and only time in our time together
there that I heard his voice crack with emotion."
McChrystal had the crowd in stitches with a speech that
mixed loving praise for his wife Annie and a comic routine. Noting that the
ceremony had the potential to be awkward, McChrystal proceeded to crack jokes
about his unscheduled retirement, his marriage, and his three-decade career in
the Army. At one point, he warned his close friends in attendance that he could
leak stories about them if they spoke out of turn. "I know a Rolling Stone reporter," he joked.
McChrystal then went into a long, affectionate tribute to
his wife's patience during his five-year absence from their marriage and the
process of reintegrating into family life stateside after being so long in a
position of complete authority and control as a military commander:
"First I need to address two questions that we've been asked
often lately. The first is: What are you going to do? Actually, Annie is the
one who is asking me that. I'm thinking I would be a good fashion consultant
and spokesman for Gucci. But they haven't called."
"The other question is always asked a bit tentatively. How
are you and Annie doing? We did spend some years apart, but we're doing well.
And I did carry some of what I learned into retirement. First, Annie and I are
reconnecting and now we're up on Skype with each other. Of course, we never did
that all those years I was 10,000 miles away, but now we connect by video link
when we are 15 feet apart, and I think she really likes that."
"I was so enthused I tried to use Skype for a daily family
[video teleconference], so I could get daily updates and pass out guidance. But
there's some resistance to ‘flatter and faster' in the McChrystal
household. The same is true for the
tactical directive I issued upon my return. It's reasonable guidance: one meal
a day, early morning [physical training], the basics for a good family
life. But I've gotten a few night
letters and Annie is stocking up on ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which is
strange since our new yard is smaller than this podium."
"Although the insurgency is relatively small, one woman,
she's uninterested in reintegration. I assess the situation as serious, and in
many ways deteriorating. Mr. Secretary, look at her. I'm thinking at least
40,000 troops."
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