33 Facts About General McChrystal

1. General McChrystal retired from the Army, President Obama allowed him to retain his four-star rank in retirement, waiving a rule that requires a four-star officer to hold that rank for three years in order to keep it during retirement.

2. General McChrystal would go on to teach at Yale, write a memoir and found a consultancy that applies the lessons of his military career to the business world.

3. General McChrystal said he would try to make it down to pay his respects as soon as possible.

4. General McChrystal was not disciplined in the scandal, even though an interrogator at the camp reported seeing him inspect the prison multiple times.

5. General McChrystal entered West Point in 1972, when the US military was close to its all-time low in popularity.

6. General McChrystal stands and looks around the suite that his traveling staff of 10 has converted into a full-scale operations center.

7. General McChrystal is in Paris to keep the French, who have lost more than 40 soldiers in Afghanistan, from going all wobbly on him.

8. General McChrystal told the Wall Street Journal that his parents instilled a strict sense of morality in him from a young age.

9. General McChrystal said, referring to the president, "I don't think he tells the truth.

10. General McChrystal said he's worried that the Afghan people will lose confidence in the US as an ally that can be counted on.

11. General McChrystal praised Hillary Clinton for her tenure as secretary of state in a 2014 Huffington Post interview, but stopped short of endorsing her for the presidency.

12. General McChrystal led US forces in Afghanistan under President Barack Obama, but resigned in 2010 over comments he and his top officers made in a Rolling Stone article that belittled other administration officials, including Vice President Joe Biden.

13. At the time, General McChrystal was short of the time needed to retire at his pay grade.

14. General McChrystal is surely right that no static, formulaic listing of characteristics will capture what was extraordinary about either Albert Einstein or Boss Tweed.

15. General McChrystal is reported to run 7 to 8 miles daily, eat one meal per day, and sleep four hours a night.

16. General McChrystal married Annie Corcoran, from a military family, in 1977.

17. In 2016, FiscalNote announced that General McChrystal had joined the company's board of directors.

18. General McChrystal called on the 2016 presidential candidates to embrace practical solutions to restore social trust in the United States "such as engaging young Americans in a year or more of national service.

19. General McChrystal established a consultancy firm, McChrystal Group, in 2011 which uses the slogan "Bringing Lessons from the Battlefield to Boardroom".

20. On January 8, 2013, General McChrystal appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe program, in which he endorsed stronger US gun control laws, saying that assault weapons were for the battlefield, not schools or streets.

21. In 2011, General McChrystal advocated instituting a national service program in the United States.

22. In 2011, General McChrystal joined Spirit of America, a 50(3) organization that supports the safety and success of Americans serving abroad and the local people and partners they seek to help, as an Advisory Board Member.

23. General McChrystal is Chairman of the Board of Siemens Government Technologies, and is on the strategic advisory board of Knowledge International, a licensed arms dealer whose parent company is EAI, a business "very close" to the United Arab Emirates government.

24. General McChrystal teaches a course entitled "Leadership", a graduate-level seminar with some spots reserved for undergraduates.

25. In 2010, after leaving the Army, General McChrystal joined Yale University as a Jackson Institute for Global Affairs senior fellow.

26. General McChrystal warned that the war in Afghanistan might be lost if more troops were not sent, but the report ends on a note of cautious optimism: "While the situation is serious, success is still achievable.

27. General McChrystal submitted a 66-page report to Defense Secretary Robert Gates calling for more troops in Afghanistan, saying "We are going to win.

28. General McChrystal was one of eight officers recommended for discipline by a subsequent Pentagon investigation but the Army declined to take action against him.

29. General McChrystal was promoted to lieutenant general on February 16, 2006.

30. General McChrystal was selected to deliver nationally televised Pentagon briefings on US military operations in Iraq, including one in April 2003 shortly after the fall of Baghdad in which he announced, "I would anticipate that the major combat engagements are over.

31. General McChrystal moved to 3rd Battalion, 19th Infantry, 24th Infantry Division, in November 1982, where he commanded A Company before becoming battalion operations officer (S-3) in September 1984.

32. General McChrystal graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1976 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army.

33. General McChrystal held the post from June 15, 2009 to June 23, 2010.