General Stanley McChrystal on 'The Jolene Doctrine'

The United States is witnessing the phase of war it does best—overwhelming air superiority, precision strikes, technological dominance. General McChrystal warns that everything after this conventional phase gets harder. «If you like this war, enjoy this part of it because everything after this gets harder,» he cautions, «because the disproportionate technology advantage we have, professionalism, all of those things start to decrease over time, particularly if the war drags out for an extended period.»

The risk of ground troops entering Iran remains real, even if unlikely. McChrystal cannot imagine a scenario where it would be a good idea, yet civil war, loss of internal control, or uncertainty about nuclear materials could create an imperative in the moment. Once forces are committed to that environment, «things get very, very complicated»—a lesson painfully learned in Iraq and Afghanistan. The challenge is that unconventional or asymmetric operations erase the technological gap between forces, turning war into «a much grittier kind of experience» where professionalism matters less than persistence and local knowledge.

General McChrystal has worked closely with two presidents—George W. Bush and Barack Obama—who were very different but shared one trait: «If I made my case, they were listening and they would make the best decision that they could with the information that they had.» He didn't always agree—he opposed the invasion of Iraq—but he believed Bush made the decision in good faith. «I don't have the same confidence right now,» he says flatly.

The general wants leaders who are «very thoughtful» when putting young men and women in harm's way, who understand that civilians will die and «feel it.» «I don't want anybody to make jokes about it. I don't want anybody to be flippant about it. And I don't want ever our government to have sort of a braggadocious attitude toward that.» The current administration's tone—Secretary Hegseth's chest-puffing briefings, Trump's lies about civilian casualties—represents a dangerous departure from the sober, values-based leadership McChrystal believes war demands.

The modern American military does not look like it once did. Soldiers span the spectrum of physical capabilities, genders, and backgrounds. A month before this conversation, General McChrystal officiated the retirement of five transgender service members—a colonel, a lieutenant colonel, three NCOs—with «incredible records» who were forced out simply because someone decided they could no longer serve. «All they wanted was the respect of a ceremony,» he says. Their families were there. Their sacrifice was real.

McChrystal spent much of his career in the special operations world, «where there frankly was a lot of sort of biceps and whatnot.» But in the most difficult phase of the Iraq war, his units became «a hierarchy of what you did. We became a meritocracy.» He recalls walking into an operations center and seeing a 6'5" hulking operator getting his chest pounded by a 105-pound female intelligence analyst. «She's right and she had earned the respect she had,» he says. The lesson: «Our army, our military ought to be a mirror of our society. It ought to reflect us.»