Command and General Staff College Foundation News - 3

FROM THE CHAIRMAN

'I was all in...'

www.cgscfoundation.org

programs," and invited me to join
in the winter of 2006, I was all in.
It was the least I could do to give
back to our professional community
and the "intellectual heart" of our
Army - the U.S. Army Command
and General Staff College. Lt. Gen.
(Ret.) Bob Arter, Col. (Ret.) Willard
Snyder, Mr. Tom Holcom, and Mr.
Hyrum Smith, along with our first
CEO, Col. (Ret.) Bob Ulin, lit the
fuse that launched us. I offer my
profound thanks to them.
I owe my greatest gratitude to
all who have led and supported the
Foundation over these last 11-plus
years. Many have donated their time,
talent and treasure as trustees, donors
and program support volunteers.
Our donors have enabled us to
do the most important and visible
programs such as the National
Security Roundtables, the Ethics
Professor Chair and annual Ethics
Symposium, the Simons Center for
Interagency Cooperation, the Colin
Powell Lecture series, our family
and spouse support programs and
our overall community outreach.
The contributions of the CGSC
leadership, staff and faculty
have insured our efforts are well
integrated and truly supportive of
developing our leaders in all the
CGSC academic programs.
My last words of thanks go
to two groups: Our faithful and
generous fellow trustees who
do so much behind the scenes to
guide, advertise, participate in and
resource all our efforts, and of equal
importance, our small, accomplished
and completely dedicated staff:
Doug Tystad, Ann Soby, Joan
Cabell, Rod Cox, Elizabeth Hill,
and Linda Carpentier, as well as
our supporting consultants, Mark
Wiggins and Carolyn Klemp.
My very best regards and thanks,
John.

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Miller, right, congratulates outgoing Foundation
Chairman Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Arter in November 2014. Miller had
been elected chairman in the September 2014 board meeting.

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Miller digs into the details in his first board
meeting as chairman in March 2015.

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Miller speaks during a session of the 2015 Fort
Leavenworth Ethics Symposium. Miller will always been known as the
first champion of this ethics symposium and he personally attended
and participated in each one from since the program's inception in
2009.

PHOTO BY DAVE CROSS

On December 27, 1972, my
I first set foot on Fort
Leavenworth and began our long
relationship with the Command
and General Staff College, Fort
Leavenworth and our neighboring
cities. I had just completed my
second tour of duty in Vietnam.
We were to be a student family in
the CGSC Class of 1974. What a
journey we have had since then,
all profoundly affected by our
"Leavenworth Experience."
To avoid long winded anecdotes,
let me just say that I finally became
committed to our profession during
my student year and that was greatly
reinforced as I stayed and taught
tactics and war gaming for three
years more. We returned in 198991 (Deputy Commandant) and
1993-95 (Commandant and CAC
Commander). Generals Creighton
Abrams, Sr., Bill Dupuy, Carl Vuono,
Gordon Sullivan, Fred Franks and
Bill Hartzog all had impacts on my
views of our profession, to include
an ever-deepening commitment
to the development of our rising
leaders. From Abrams I learned our
Army will get better if each of us
takes charge of our small piece of it
and makes it better. From Dupuy I
learned we must define standards for
every task and mission and not stop
training until we meet them. From
Vuono I learned that leaders must
have a clear and consistent command
philosophy, and develop themselves
and their subordinates. From
Sullivan: Hope is not a method...
you must plan and execute. From
Franks: Make deliberate, informed
decisions. From Hartzog: Trust and
encourage one another, then even the
most difficult is possible.
When the founders wrote that the
purpose of the CGSC Foundation was
"to provide the Margin of Excellence
to our CGSC Leader Development

wife and

PHOTOS BY MARK H. WIGGINS

Lt. Gen. John E. Miller, U.S. Army, Ret.

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Miller speaks at the Foundation's outreach event in
New York City in May 2016.

CGSC FOUNDATION NEWS - 3
http://www.cgscfoundation.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Command and General Staff College Foundation News
