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Portrait of Eric Shinseki

Eric Shinseki

24 quotes in 237 categories

Eric Ken Shinseki , born 28 November 1942) is a retired United States Army general who served as the seventh United States secretary of veterans affairs from 2009 to 2014 and as the 34th chief of staff of the Army from 1999 to 2003.

Quick Facts About Eric Shinseki

Notable works: The Army family

About Eric Shinseki

Eric Ken Shinseki , born 28 November 1942) is a retired United States Army general who served as the seventh United States secretary of veterans affairs from 2009 to 2014 and as the 34th chief of staff of the Army from 1999 to 2003. Shinseki is a veteran of two tours of combat in the Vietnam War, in which he was awarded three Bronze Star Medals for valor and two Purple Hearts. He was the first Asian-American four-star general, and the first Asian-American Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Biography source: Wikipedia

Quotes by Eric Shinseki

You don't get many do-overs in life.

Get

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It has been very humbling and gratifying to have these men as our role models. Your generation enabled America to close out…

Adversaries

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In the army, we do two things every day. We train our soldiers, and then we grow them into leaders, because frankly,…

Army

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I grew up as a part of the team that helped to field M-1s and M-60-A3s to the army back in 1980s.

Army

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I spent five years working very hard to develop a relationship with the veterans' service organizations. We have together worked some major…

Develop

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Without leadership, command is a hollow experience, a vacuum often filled with mistrust and arrogance..

Arrogance

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I am an armor officer.

Am

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If you are going to make a change, make it big and bold. Walk up to the biggest guy on the block,…

Around

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It's tough never being right.

Being

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I have spent a lifetime watching kids make mistakes because they were not trained or well led or properly motivated to do…

Because

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

Change

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No veteran should have to wait for claims. If there's anybody impatient here, I am that individual.

Am

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I do not want to criticize while my soldiers are still bleeding and dying in Iraq.

Bleeding

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I am an armor officer. I grew up as a part of the team that helped to field M-1s and M-60-A3s to…

Am

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It's important in any organization that if visions have any reality at all, it's because the organization believes that the vision is…

Any

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The magnificent army that fought in Desert Storm is a great army, and it still is a magnificent army today. But it…

Cold

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Well, let's assume the world is linear. If we required a certain amount of troops per 25,000 population in the Balkans, if…

Population

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I do engage veterans. I meet with the veterans' service organizations monthly. It's a direct, no-holds-barred discussion. I travel to their conventions,…

Been

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I can't explain the lack of integrity among some of the leaders of our health care facilities. This is something I rarely…

Care

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What I want veterans to know is that VA is here to care for them. VA is a good system - health…

Any

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I would say that what's been mobilized to this point - something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers are probably,…

Figures

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More importantly, if you are in a position to hire, hire a veteran. They will be the best employees you have.

Being the best

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An army that fought and won a war decisively finds it even more difficult to undergo change.

Army

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You must love those you lead before you can be an effective leader, you can certainly command without that sense of commitment,…

Arrogance

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