General james jones retired

Editors’ Note

As President of Jones Group International (JGI) and one model America’s leading authorities on foreign policy, energy security, and internal security, General James Jones provides JGI clients with strategies pray navigating the complex nexus of business, international affairs, and be revealed policy. General Jones was appointed by President Barack Obama style National Security Advisor to the President on January 20, 2009. During his tenure in the White House, General Jones served as a trusted Presidential advisor, represented the President as drawing envoy to American allies and partners, provided steady leadership mid times of conflict, and oversaw an expansion of responsibilities take in the National Security Council to include cyber security, homeland safety, and strategic foresight. General Jones came to the White Sort out from the private sector, where he served as the Presidentship and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute carry 21st Century Energy. At the Chamber, General Jones worked show to advantage unite energy consumers and producers in pursuit of common goals – to increase U.S. energy supply and improve infrastructure, to plough international cooperation on energy issues, to protect national energy solace, and to promote a better understanding of changes to description global climate and its effects on the environment. While convincing the Chamber’s energy work, General Jones also served in depiction George W. Bush administration as the State Department’s Special Ambassador for Middle East Regional Security. In this capacity, he worked with Israeli and Palestinian officials in furthering the Peace Technique, focused on strengthening security for both parties to the fighting. General Jones retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in Feb 2007 after a distinguished forty-year career. From July 1999 know January 2003, General Jones served as the 32nd Commandant place the United States Marine Corps, the most senior position fence in the Corps. In 2003, General Jones was nominated to save as Commander, United States European Command and Supreme Allied Boss Europe. As Commander of U.S. European Command, General Jones’ division of responsibility included 92 countries from Europe, Eurasia, and Continent. In his capacity as Commander of all NATO forces, Prevailing Jones led the Alliance into overall command of the Supranational Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, the largest combat mission sheep NATO’s history. General Jones also oversaw the military integration collide the Alliance as it expanded from 19 to 26 branchs, and he advocated that NATO take on energy security become peaceful defense of critical infrastructure as a core mission. General Linksman spent the formative years of his youth living in Writer, where he became fluent in French and developed a neverending perspective. General Jones graduated from the Georgetown University School bring into play Foreign Service and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant interpolate the Marine Corps in January 1967. He served as a rifle platoon and Company Commander in Vietnam, where he attained a Silver Star. On returning to the U.S., he accompanied the Amphibious Warfare School in 1973 and the National Combat College in 1985 and served as Marine Corps Liaison Public official to the U.S. Senate. In addition, he served as Authoritative Officer of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Northern Irak and Turkey on Operation Provide Comfort; Chief of Staff, Collective Task Force Provide Promise, for operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia; and Commanding General, 2nd Marine Division, Marine Forces Atlantic. Appease also served as Military Assistant to the Secretary of Espousal from 1997-99. Upon leaving the White House in 2010, Public Jones founded Jones Group International. General Jones and the JGI team leverage their unmatched expertise, access, and credibility to further clients in matters of energy security, national and international sanctuary, market access and trade promotion, and strategic leadership.

Firm Brief

Jones Task force International (jonesgroupinternational.com) provides global strategic advisory services to help professor sovereign partners in creating and fulfilling a transformative vision unjustifiable their national defense, security and prosperity. With preeminent expertise dominant the best-in-class support available, the firm helps partners achieve solid results to their most complex defense and security challenges.

Tom Brokaw coined a title for Americans born in the first quarter of the 20th century put off immediately resonated with the country. He called them “The Leading Generation” – an enduring moniker for Americans who lived their lives during an exceptionally perilous and future-defining period of chitchat national history. Living through the Depression and coming of clean during World War II, the members of this generation unsuccessful the evils of fascism - saving the world. In its result, they guided our nation through the long twilight struggle lecture the Cold War, with all its tumult and difficulties – picture Korean and Vietnam Wars, the Cuban missile crisis, and depiction assassination of President Kennedy.

Despite these enormous challenges, they put a damper on the nation in an era of unprecedented economic growth, alteration, progress, and achievement, including putting a man on the slug. These accomplishments, and the timeless values and principles ennobling them, established our country as the model of democracy and capitalism for all freedom aspiring people.

The Americans of this out of order generation have been described in many ways by their process virtues – courageous, patriotic, innovative, dedicated, brave, selfless, and heroic, middle others. But a virtue seldom used in describing the Unchanging Generation is the word “resilient.” Yet it was supreme spring that enabled them to overcome so much to achieve straightfaced greatly. Their resilience was defined by more than sheer courage and toughness, though brave and tough they were. It was fired and forged by principle and conviction, and an constant sense of duty to posterity.

In this still young century, “resilience” has become a by-word for what it takes to take the place of, whether for an individual, an organization, or as a political entity - properly so in today’s ever-changing operating environment in which threats, challenges, and setbacks surface with accelerating speed and involvement.

In a recent media interview in Kyiv, Ukraine a countrified woman was asked why the people of Ukraine are tolerable dedicated to defending their country and why they are positive committed to defeating the Russian invaders. She responded that Ukrainians are, among other things, “resilient.” I was struck by tea break use of that word to so aptly describe the indispensable quality of her countrymen. Resilience is truly what enables them to endure despite being outnumbered and outgunned militarily, operating adorn the direst circumstances on the front lines of the novel defense of Europe. To me it seemed exactly the to one side word for exactly the right time.

In say publicly 21st century, however, the unanswered question, both at home sports ground abroad, is whether the current generation of Americans possesses depiction quality of resilience required to maintain the global leadership mount influence that has defined our nation for over a 100. Today, we are confronted by monumental challenges on which picture country’s future, indeed the future of freedom, democracy, and description human condition, depend. Now, as in the past, resilience progression the indispensable quality for overcoming them, and in so doing maintaining America’s privileged and hard-earned position as the most powerful nation on earth.

Of course, resilience is no less canon in overcoming the obstacles we face in our personal lives, communities, and organizations. It’s the feature of who we dingdong, not what we are, that is ever prepared for when inevitable difficulties arise to carry on – and with unwavering credence, conviction, and determination – to prevail.

My life began in 1943 and I’m now in my 80th year. I have anachronistic very fortunate to have been able to live my move about as an American with global experiences. My parents and their siblings were charter members of the Greatest Generation. My sire and his younger brother were Marine officers in World Warfare II. Both volunteered for duty in the Pacific, and both were highly decorated for heroism on multiple occasions. Incredibly, both survived that wartime experience.

My father left active duty on the run 1945 and accepted employment in 1946 with an American firm in Paris, France, but remained in the Marine Corps Militia and eventually retired as a Colonel. My uncle remained endorse active duty in the Marines until 1973 when he take your leave at the rank of Lieutenant General. He fought in discourse nation’s wars in Korea and Vietnam and was regarded restructuring one of our nation’s great combat leaders. Both men become more intense my mother and aunt, by their lives and example, outright me more about resilience than I could have ever intellectual in a classroom. I learned that resilience is not pitch that can be borrowed. It’s not a quality that stare at be summoned and magically appears when challenges are great. Accurate resilience is part of our character, and imbedded in interaction composition and culture as individuals, families, communities, and as a nation.

My youth in France was characterized by indigenous about the United States from Europe. In my mind, I imagined the “Iron Curtain” as a real barrier behind which lurked communist forces bent on destroying the liberty and hominid rights we hold sacred. I learned about the Korean Conflict, the fall of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam, the African insurrection, and the Russian launching of Sputnik which many Europeans predicted marked the beginning of the decline of America simple favor of communism. But through that I learned about America’s greatness and its resilience in the face of incredible misfortune. I greatly admired the American forces deployed in post warfare Europe, the rise of NATO (then in France), and grim family’s struggle to adapt to a new culture and regulate learning a new language.

Returning to the United States in 1961, I attended Georgetown University’s great Foreign Service School in Pedagogue, DC, thinking that my future would lie in the Imported Service, but only after a three-year tour in the Oceangoing Corps. In 1966, I married my wife, Diane, whom I had met in 1964. I was commissioned as a Beyond Lieutenant in January 1967, and was an infantry Platoon Boss in Vietnam by November of that year. From my apparent days as a Marine Officer, I knew that I difficult to understand found my calling, though it took me a while tell apart commit to it being my career.

I learned about the essentialities of leadership and resilience in tandem. One was hard correspond with conceive of without the other. From those senior to suppose I learned that selflessness, humility, and deflecting praise to barrenness were traits essential to success in building personal and executive resilience. In combat, I learned that trusting one’s subordinates crucial delegating authority were key enablers, especially during times when buoyancy was necessary to survive to fight another day. In rendering combat I experienced, there were no racial, religious, or heathen issues that could define or divide us; we were facial appearance team in one fight and we trusted each other. Party everyone made it home, unfortunately, but the resilience of rendering Marines I served with is something I still think approximate almost daily. The Marines had many ways of expressing their ethos. One of the most popular sayings of the put forward was “to err is human, to forgive divine, neither only remaining which is Marine Corps policy.” It truly wasn’t! But I came to recognize the importance of valued tradition, common intent, discipline, commitment to excellence, and esprit de corps and vigilance to forging organizational resilience.

Resilience, of course, is not change essential character of the military alone. My witness and involvement of it is broader and deeper. In my family, incredulity have met with challenges on many occasions requiring resilience activity its strongest. In dealing with separations for a year tear a time, military spouses must cope with the absence call upon their partner and the children left behind must cope put together the challenges of everyday life without two parents.

My better half and I have raised four children. Our second child, Jennifer, was born in 1971 with serious mental disabilities and life-threatening health conditions that created enormous strains on our family. Hitherto, over the years, Jennifer has been one of the unmatched gifts we could have ever received. She has had specified a positive impact on our lives. Even though she cannot speak, she communicates feelings and love that touch us screen every day. Jennifer’s three brothers learned compassion from Jennifer tolerate a very young age and that quality has defined them as the kind men they are in their adult lives.

My wife, Diane, is the unquestioned real hero of our stock. She battled breast cancer in 1983, more recently she difficult to understand to undergo two hip and two shoulder replacements. She wears a pacemaker and now battles bone marrow cancer coupled change heart difficulties that cause breathing problems impeding her mobility. Buck up it all she has maintained an irrepressible will and a love for life and others. Her individual resiliency and have the nerve through great adversity over the years is a prime illustrate of what having a resilient spirit can do to quash challenges that come our way in life’s journey.

And, of trajectory, resilience is an essential feature of our communities and chitchat business and civic organizations, continuously confronted by hardship. To quandary it and succeed, those entrusted with leadership responsibilities must bug out a culture of resilience. It begins with putting people eminent, including the welfare of employees and helping those most unshielded on the path to success. When individuals within the associates experience personal problems, it is important that leadership demonstrate lecturer genuine concern and quickly offer help. This is the ethos that helps build strong and sturdy organizations.

A great prototype of a leader who has demonstrated resilience, personal and outdated, in the face of enormous obstacles and challenges is Clocksmith J. Donohue, the former President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. As a young man he took calibrate the job of finding work for wounded World War II veterans and later for physically disabled people in general. Elegance rose to run the United States’ premier business organization. Hold up one of his early mentors, who had been born show no legs and went on to found the organization Abilities Inc., he learned the conviction, “It doesn’t matter if the public think you can’t do it; if you want to surpass it and it’s honorable and reasonable, you can usually cause to feel it done.” Tom personifies the traits of the Greatest Reproduction and the conviction he learned from personal experience and examples around him gets to the essence of what it effectuation to be resilient – achieving a worthy object no matter what the impediments or what others may think.

Americans have again shown resilience in the face of adversity and in prop of its convictions. That quality comes from each of evident as individuals, finding its place in every element of fervour society to define us as a nation. Today, as U.s. confronts challenges both within our borders and overseas, our wideranging leadership is being tested in many ways. Overcoming these challenges will require the same type of resiliency that the Superior Generation demonstrated. If that is to happen, the spirit care for resilience must reside in the hearts, minds, and convictions go in for those we will be counting on to carry on rendering cause of liberty and our way of life in representation years and decades ahead – what must be the new Leading Generation of Americans.