General Myers addresses academy cadets

  • Published
  • By Butch Wehry
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) --  Two incompatible visions locked in a struggle for hearts and minds pose a special challenge to present and future military leaders, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told cadets here Feb. 24.

Gen. Richard B. Myers spoke to about 2,000 cadets about today's leadership environment during the U.S. Air Force Academy's National Character and Leadership Symposium.

"These are very serious times," General Myers said. "There are two incompatible visions out there in the world."

One vision, he said, is known very well: religious tolerance, justice, freedom and hope.

"The other vision we know very well is the one espoused by the zealots in this world, the perpetrators of the 9-11 tragedy -- injustice, intolerance, violence, tyranny, terror, fear," he said.

"And those two are opposing, and that's the environment we're in," the general said. "What it demands is absolute stalwart leadership. We've got to be very strong in these times."

He said that Islamic extremists have stated it is every Muslim's job to kill Americans.

"Now, clearly, not every Muslim believes that, but there are people out there who do believe that," General Myers said. "I think it's pretty clear that if they can get their hands on weapons more devastating than airplanes, they would use them. Your imagination needs to run just a little bit wild before you figure out that that could be quite nasty."

General Myers referred to his 3-year-old granddaughter and said leaders hold the key to the kind of world she will live in.

"You know what we all want, and what I want for my granddaughter," he said. "I want her to grow up in a place where you are free -- free from things like fear. And that's only going to come true for her, and for your families and friends, and for our allies and everyone on the planet if we have really strong leadership."

The chairman said that future leaders are going to have to be agile, yet flexible -- qualities he illustrated with an anecdote from Iraq.

"A lieutenant colonel and his troops were at the site of one of the holiest places in Islam," General Myers said. "He was confronted by an angry crowd. He immediately told his men to point their rifles at the ground.

"I said, 'Why did you do that?'" General Myers said. "He said, 'Well, they obviously thought that we were dishonoring the place by coming here, and so we showed them respect, and it probably saved (a lot) of lives.' I bet the doctrine didn't say to do that, but that's agile leadership."

General Myers told the cadets of an Army lieutenant who grew as a leader in Iraq.

"He said, 'You know, I came over here to fight in Iraq, but I found out that we're involved in a lot more than just fighting,'" General Myers said. "He said, 'We can help the Iraqi people in so many different ways. I've come to realize that I'm a Soldier and a leader, and somewhere down the line I am an artilleryman.'"

Innovation will be a key to future leaders, General Myers said, but one quality still stands out as the most important for any leader.

"If there's one trait that I think is important for anyone in the military, and I think it's important for any walk of life, it's integrity," General Myers said. "It's particularly important in the military, because we count on each other for our well-being. We work together as a team; it's always teamwork. If somebody doesn't think you have integrity, you're no use to the team, and you'll be asked to leave."

General Myers said he was once on a board to select students to attend a weapons school when he was handed a letter from a senior official wanting a certain individual to be selected. The board was supposed to be immune from the "good old boy network," he said.

"So I went for a cup of coffee to think about it for a minute," General Myers said. "Then I told my wing commander, 'Hey, I'm down here on this board, and I got this input that I don't think is permissible.' So you make decisions," he said.

"In my life," General Myers said, "this would have been a pretty important person not to irritate. I got together with the colonel in charge, and we decided the board could not enter this letter, and we'd see how it came out. Well, it came out the way you would suspect: The individual did not make it on this list."

General Myers told the cadets they can expect to face similar dilemmas that will put their integrity to the test, and it would not always be comfortable to maintain their integrity.

"I didn't know exactly what to say," the general said about the selection board incident. "You've all been confronted with that sort of situation."

He said he called the senior official, and an "unpleasant" conversation followed.

"Life goes on," General Myers said. "My guess is that you'll have many more opportunities to make those judgments." (Courtesy of American Forces Press Service)