General McChrystal here on RallyPoint - What questions do you have?

General, First off, thank you for your service.
I have two questions regarding veterans joining organizations like Team Rubicon and the impact of a rapid expansion of membership on a young yet very talented and capable organization.

They are obviously filling a undeserved need for the veterans to continue to remain connected with other veterans to preform a service requiring their unique capabilities for rapid first responders here in the US and world wide for natural disasters.

Slow motion disasters happen too. They that create the same needs in communities and work for the responders just not at the same pace or with the same resources or attention from the media or action from governments local, state or federal.

Cities like Detroit have thousands of homes that need to come down before anything can be built. New investment won't come until the blight is gone. After forty years on neglect the communities between downtown and the suburbs are devastated and need relief as if a disaster happened and nobody came to help.

With over 25,000 members spread across the country and the world with Team Rubicon Global, how do members remain engaged with the organization and each other to maintain mission readiness and expand their profession options?

Beyond the regional short term and specific trainings. Can you see training missions to provide a boot camp for disaster response in communities of blight where massive debris dead tree removal and demolition is required?

Is it true you only ate one meal a day in Afghanistan?

GEN Stanley McChrystal, sir, not everyone realizes that the most difficult view can be the view from the top; getting the most accurate, realistic picture of reality. It's one thing to get information, it's another to make credible sense of it. At your level, you must handle enormous amounts of data/information from a wide variety of sources to achieve full situational awareness. What is your advice to young officers and NCOs on how to sort fact from fiction? And in that regard, what is your relationship with your key senior NCOs?

General McChrystal,

Thank you for your time, expertise, and exemplary leadership skills as evidenced by your willingness to actively listen to us. My question is, Why does it appear that many politicians do not listen to our military leaders, regardless of rank? I study the behavior of the generals and enlisted personnel who speak and write publicly. I seek clarification through research and continue to ask questions. There is always room for one more question.

Dr. Barbara A. Smith
US Army Nurse Corps veteran and educator

Gen Stanley McChrystal, thank you for your dedicated and distinguished service to our nation sir.

With our fight against terrorism around the world.

Do you think our politicians will come together and recognize the reality that our nation is at war?

I get the impression that the "business" of politics interrupts the proper focus on keeping our military well funded. The sequestration is an indication to me that our civilian leaders don't agree that we are at war. Instead, they focus intensely on being at war with the other side of the isle.

Am I paranoid, misinformed, or is our nation really at war with itself more than with terrorist?

GEN Stanley McChrystal Sir, first off, thank you for the opportunity to ask questions.

Sir, who was your biggest influencer in your career and why? Secondly, what was the best bit of advice you received from your enlisted advisors?

Again, thank you for this opportunity.

Sir,

GEN Stanley McChrystal welcome to Rally Point and thank you, for your service and your leadership. I look forward to adding your book to my collection.

What are your thoughts about dealing with the change in generational attitudes and the ever increasing "poor command climate surveys"? As most of the old timers can attest to, the military was much simpler when we were younger. We did what we were told to do, if you did not then there was consequences. I find that the most stressful part of the job now is dealing with the current generation of service members. There is much more thought that has to be put into what am I going to say, how am I going to deal with this, am I going to have a bad survey response because the Sailor feels they are being treated unfairly.

Thank you, for the opportunity to speak to you and seek your guidance.

V/R

Senior Chief Gosnell

Thank you so much for taking time out to conduct this RP forum General McChrystal. We met at FT Benning back in the 97-98 timeframe – at the time I was the first Army Acquisition Officer assigned to the Dismounted Battlespace Battle Lab. With so much recent discussion on improving the acquisition process, as a former Senior Commander, what were/are your thoughts concerning the equipment that you and your units relied on as well as the acquisition process. BTW, I just finished reading your book, “My Share of the Task” -- Thank you for your leadership and influence!

Sir, from a Civil Affairs perspective why did it take so long to recognize the benefits of Female Engagement Teams/Cultural Support Teams?

I don't have any questions as of now. Lots of brothers and sisters already asked what I wanted to know and you gave excellent answers.

I just wanted to thank you for your service and commitment as well. It's an honor just to tell you that.