Needless to say, it was the greatest of privileges to serve with the selfless men and women - Iraqi and American and those of our coalition partners, civilian as well as military - who did the hard, dangerous work of the surge. There seldom was an easy period; each day was tough.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the honor and privilege of serving alongside dedicated individuals during challenging times.
David Petraeus highlights the privilege he felt while serving with selfless individuals from various backgrounds during the intense period of the Iraq surge. He acknowledges the hardships faced, reinforcing the idea that true leadership is about recognizing the collective effort and sacrifices made by all those involved in difficult circumstances.
In practice
In a speech honoring veterans, you could use this quote to emphasize the importance of recognizing their sacrifices.
There is nothing I can do to undo what I did. I can only say again how sorry I am to those I let down and then strive to go forward with a greater sense of humility and purpose, and with gratitude to those who stood with me during a very difficult chapter in my life.
I considered our British comrades to rank with the finest men and women of any armed service in the world. And I know that my fellow American soldiers - and those of the other coalition countries under my command - valued very highly the professional expertise, capability, courage, and determination of our British partners on the battlefield.
In the 101st Airborne Division headquarters in Mosul, we had a sign on the wall. It was a question that we would ask ourselves before every new operation or policy initiative. It asked: Will this policy or operation take more bad guys off the streets than it creates by its conduct?
The idea is to go to bed every night with fewer enemies than you had in the morning.
We periodically note that there are no silver bullets, there are no magic formulas, there's no single action or component of the overall... comprehensive civil-military approach.
At least from a national security standpoint, none of the problems the U.S. and U.K. face will become easier to solve if the U.K. is out of the E.U.; on the contrary, I fear that a 'Brexit' would only make our world even more dangerous and difficult to manage.
Most of my work has been in corporations, studying how you build an organization that helps people to identify and work to their strengths.
To get the best coaching outcomes, always have your 1-on-1's on your employee's turf not yours. In your office the truth hides.
Genuine leadership comes from the quality of your vision and your ability to spark others to extraordinary performance.
Those who purify your water, inspect your meat, and test your kids toys, as well as a huge number of nurses, teachers, and our soldiers, are public employees. The firefighters who don't hesitate to rush toward danger while you run away from it - they are all public employees.
I've learned some exciting things - mostly, that people really want to help each other; and that, if you can lay out a vision for them - and that vision is sincere and genuine - they'll get interested.
It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious.
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