Don't Ask Too Fast

摘要

Admiral mike mullen likes to talk to the enlisted troops. On a recent tour of Iraq and Afghanistan, he gathers them around at each stop and tells them to pose any question they want, large or small. Mullen is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking officer in the armed forces. Though he orders the troops to stand at ease and flashes the smile of an amiable uncle, grunts don't easily relax around such senior brass and no hand goes up. "I've got all day," he says and waits till someone breaks the silence. In Afghanistan, a Marine asks about a salary issue. A soldier in Iraq wants to know if his tour will be extended. The exchanges are awkward, but they serve to extricate Mullen from the cycle of PowerPoint briefings. "I come out to see where they're living," he tells newsweek. "I come out to see what we're asking them to do."