Tonight I got to meet one of the Army’s Generals I’ve come to really respect and admire. I’ve had the opportunity to interview General Peter Chiarelli on numerous occasions during DA Blogger Roundtables. Tonight, I had the opportunity to meet with him face to face.

I arranged with his Public Affairs Officer to meet with his aide-de-camp during the local AUSA Year of the NCO Gala tonight, which happened to be on Emily’s birthday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!! After some milling around and meeting with various veterans and attendees, Emily and I decided to test all the cheeses, meats, and assorted fruits. Being the low-class folks we are, we had no idea how we were supposed to eat this stuff without making fools of ourselves. The entire gala was extremely glitzy and out of my comfort zone!

I decided we needed to walk around and try to find General Chiarelli’s aide so we could line up our interview tomorrow. For those that don’t know, we’re scheduled to have him on our radio show tomorrow night during the 8pm EST hour. He was actually looking forward to the interview, but we may not have as much time as we thought as he will be traveling and/or at a dinner during our show.

For those who don’t know who Gen. Chiarelli is, he is the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army. He was commissioned into the Army nearly 40 years ago and continues to serve this country with distinction. As was noted during his introduction, General Chiarelli is a Soldier…a Soldier who happens to be the Vice Chief of Staff. I couldn’t agree more.

Gen. Chiarelli is the man responsible for trying to make heads or tails of our suicide and PTS problems. He is genuinely worried about the mental state of our troops and has undertaken important measures to try and mitigate and assist with this endeavor. During the dinner portion of the evening, Gen. Chiarelli gave a GREAT speech about many topics that range from the contributions of NCOs to the Army to mental health issues. Instead of paraphrase or provide quotes here and there, I’d rather you hear his words for yourself. The audio isn’t perfect, but if it’s too difficult to hear, let me know and I can provide a transcript later.

Click here for Chirarelli Speech