10 Things You Didn't Know About Stanley McChrystal

1. Gen. Stanley McChrystal was born Aug. 14, 1954. He was the fourth child in a family of five boys and one girl. All of his brothers grew up to serve in the military.

2. His father, Maj. Gen. Herbert J. McChrystal Jr., served in Germany during the American occupation after World War II and later at the Pentagon.

3. McChrystal graduated from West Point in 1976. He entered Special Forces training at Fort Bragg in 1978 and commanded a Green Beret team in 1979 and 1980.

4. During the Persian Gulf War, McChrystal was deployed to Saudi Arabia for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

5. In 2000, when McChrystal was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, he ran 12 miles every day from his home in Brooklyn to the council's offices.

6. From 2003 to 2008, McChrystal led the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command.

7. In 2003, McChrystal oversaw the capture of Saddam Hussein. In 2006, he led the team that located and killed Abu Musab Zarqawi, the head of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

8. McChrystal oversaw a task force that was criticized for abusing detainees and utilizing harsh interrogation methods at Baghdad's Camp Nama.

9. McChrystal was criticized by the Pentagon in 2007 for his role in the coverup of the "friendly fire" death of ex-NFL star and U.S. soldier Pat Tillman in 2004 but was cleared of wrongdoing.

10. McChrystal's military decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the Army Commendation Medal.

Sources:

• New York Times
• Time Magazine
• New York Daily News
• Dallas Morning News