"I can’t express my gratitude for all you’ve done. The purpose of our military is to defend our fellow citizens. It is to provide a safe and secure environment for all the opportunities we want to give each other and our children and our grandchildren. And what that means is we’ve got to leverage every bit of talent that this nation has. We don’t have the luxury of saying, ‘you’re too tall, you’re too short, you’re the wrong color, you’re the wrong religion, you’re the wrong sexual orientation.' We need the talent. We need the talent that shares the courage, commitment, and character to serve. That’s what we want our sons and daughters to follow. Those are the people we want shoulder to shoulder with us on the battlefield. Those are the values we want to communicate. This isn’t complicated."
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Military leaders from the United StatesMemoirists from the United StatesUnited States Military Academy alumniPeople from Kansas
Original Language: English
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Speech on 8 January 2026, as quoted by Christopher Wiggins, Stanley McChrystal presides over historic farewell for five transgender troops forced into retirement", Advocate, 10 January 2026
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stanley_A._McChrystal
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Stanley A. McChrystal
Stanley Allen McChrystal (born August 14, 1954) is a retired United States Army general best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the mid-2000s. His last assignment was as Commander, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Commander, United States Forces – Afghanistan (USFOR-A). He previously served as Director, Joint Staff from August 2008 to June 2009 and as Commander of JSOC from 2003 to 2008, where he was credited with the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqa
35 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Stanley A. McChrystal →
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