Eric Shinseki

If you dislike change, you're going to dislike irrelevance even more.

Eric Ken Shinseki (エリック・シンセキ; born 28 November 1942) is a retired United States Army general who served as the seventh United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2009-2014). His final U.S. Army post was as the 34th Chief of Staff of the Army (1999–2003). Shinseki is a veteran of two tours of combat in the Vietnam War, in which he was awarded three Bronze Stars for valor and two Purple Hearts. He was both the first Asian-American four-star general (1997) and then the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Quotes

• If you dislike change, you're going to dislike irrelevance even more.
  • Quoted in Mackubin Thomas Owens, "Marines Turned Soldiers", National Review Online, December 10, 2001

• You must love those you lead before you can be an effective leader. You can certainly command without that sense of commitment, but you cannot lead without it.
  • Quoted in "Forever Young: Ten Gifts of Faith for the Graduate" - Page 156 - by Pat Williams, Karen Kingsbury - Religion - 2005

• I do not want to criticize while my soldiers are still bleeding and dying in Iraq.
  • General Eric K. Shinseki to associates; quoted in Shanker, Thom (January 12, 2007). "New Strategy Vindicates Ex-Army Chief Shinseki". The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-01-13. 

• It has been very humbling and gratifying to have these men as our role models... Your generation enabled America to close out the twentieth century as the greatest nation in the history of mankind, the only remaining superpower, the world's leading economy and the world's most respected and feared military force in the world- respected by our friends and allies, feared by our adversaries.
  • About the Medal of Honor awardees. Quoted in "Rising Sons" - Page 260 - by Bill Yenne - History - 2007

Quotes about Shinseki

• General Keane is, as is General Shinseki, they're outstanding Army officers. There's just no question about it. And they say what they believe, and they tell the truth. And they're honorable people and talented people.
  • Donald Rumsfeld, "Testimony by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld on Crusader Artillery System before Senate Armed Services Committee (transcript)". United States Department of Defense (May 16, 2002). Retrieved on 2007-01-13.