A four-star general, he is the former commander of US and international forces in Afghanistan and the former leader of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which oversees the military’s most sensitive forces. His leadership of JSOC is credited with the 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein and the 2006 location and killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
McChrystal graduated from West Point in 1976 and was commissioned as an infantry officer. He later trained at the Special Forces School in Fort Bragg, North Carolina and spent much of his career commanding special operations and airborne infantry units. During the Persian Gulf War, McChrystal served in a Joint Special Operations Task Force and later commanded the 75th Ranger Regiment. He was promoted to brigadier general in 2001.
In 2002, he was appointed chief of staff of military operations in Afghanistan. From 2003–2008, he commanded JSOC and was responsible for leading the nation’s deployed military counter-terrorism efforts around the globe, assuming command of all international forces in Afghanistan in June 2009.
General McChrystal co-founded the McChrystal Group in 2010. Its mission is to deliver innovative leadership solutions to organizations which help them transform and succeed in challenging and dynamic environments. He is also a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, where he teaches a popular course on leadership.
