Gen. Stanley McChrystal

Courage is I will do something because I know I need to do it and I'm going to do it even though I'm frightened.

I think that's absolutely true. I think stubbornness and pride, those things interact, and they do look a lot like discipline, and who's to say they're not?

I think that's absolutely true. I think stubbornness and pride, those things interact, and they do look a lot like discipline, and who's to say they're not?

I think that's absolutely true. I think stubbornness and pride, those things interact, and they do look a lot like discipline, and who's to say they're not?

Yeah, coming out of Vietnam, the US Army was a shambles. It literally had been torn to pieces. Integrity, standards, everything which you would see in a good unit, you sort of didn't see in most of the US Army.

Yeah, coming out of Vietnam, the US Army was a shambles. It literally had been torn to pieces. Integrity, standards, everything which you would see in a good unit, you sort of didn't see in most of the US Army.

Yeah, coming out of Vietnam, the US Army was a shambles. It literally had been torn to pieces. Integrity, standards, everything which you would see in a good unit, you sort of didn't see in most of the US Army.

Yeah, it's actually true through most wars. The U.S. Army at the end of World War II was largely that way. There was combat experience, but discipline, interestingly enough, across the force goes down. And what happened in Vietnam was you had a drafty army. So you have people cycling through. You have attrition of non-commissioned officers and officers.

Yeah, it's actually true through most wars. The U.S. Army at the end of World War II was largely that way. There was combat experience, but discipline, interestingly enough, across the force goes down. And what happened in Vietnam was you had a drafty army. So you have people cycling through. You have attrition of non-commissioned officers and officers.

Yeah, it's actually true through most wars. The U.S. Army at the end of World War II was largely that way. There was combat experience, but discipline, interestingly enough, across the force goes down. And what happened in Vietnam was you had a drafty army. So you have people cycling through. You have attrition of non-commissioned officers and officers.

So the level of professionalism is going down. You had integrity problems. You had standards problems because even though we had a draft as they were trying to enlist people, they started lowering the standards to bring them in. So by 1973 or 1974, the U.S. Army was a shadow of what it had been in 1965, for example, just eight years later.

So the level of professionalism is going down. You had integrity problems. You had standards problems because even though we had a draft as they were trying to enlist people, they started lowering the standards to bring them in. So by 1973 or 1974, the U.S. Army was a shadow of what it had been in 1965, for example, just eight years later.

So the level of professionalism is going down. You had integrity problems. You had standards problems because even though we had a draft as they were trying to enlist people, they started lowering the standards to bring them in. So by 1973 or 1974, the U.S. Army was a shadow of what it had been in 1965, for example, just eight years later.

And so coming out of the war, the process of rebuilding the army had to start from the ground up. It had to start with basics like leadership, like professionalism, increasing the quality of the people. So you might remember they increased pay rates. We went to an all-volunteer army and they increased pay a lot to get standards up. They increased command tours for commanders.

And so coming out of the war, the process of rebuilding the army had to start from the ground up. It had to start with basics like leadership, like professionalism, increasing the quality of the people. So you might remember they increased pay rates. We went to an all-volunteer army and they increased pay a lot to get standards up. They increased command tours for commanders.

And so coming out of the war, the process of rebuilding the army had to start from the ground up. It had to start with basics like leadership, like professionalism, increasing the quality of the people. So you might remember they increased pay rates. We went to an all-volunteer army and they increased pay a lot to get standards up. They increased command tours for commanders.

In Vietnam, it had been six months So that's too fast a turnover for an organization to do well. So they increased it to two years, which got you more consistency, got you a higher level of centralized selection. So you're picking a smaller percentage of your more qualified people to do that.

In Vietnam, it had been six months So that's too fast a turnover for an organization to do well. So they increased it to two years, which got you more consistency, got you a higher level of centralized selection. So you're picking a smaller percentage of your more qualified people to do that.

In Vietnam, it had been six months So that's too fast a turnover for an organization to do well. So they increased it to two years, which got you more consistency, got you a higher level of centralized selection. So you're picking a smaller percentage of your more qualified people to do that.

That's exactly right. So in the summer of 1973, General Creighton Abrams, who was the Army Chief of Staff, he's convinced to form two Ranger battalions. Now, the battalions had been formed during the Second World War as elite raiding battalions. Then they'd been disbanded near the end of the war. They'd been brought back in different manifestations for Korea and Vietnam, but not as battalions.