Why this book:  I was looking for a book to listen to in my car and on my bike rides and selected this one, because I had briefly worked with Gen Shelton, and the time line of his career overlapped with mine, but in a parallel universe. Though he wouldn’t remember me, I hosted him at the Naval War College in 1995 when he was SOCOM commander, and served in the Pentagon while he was the Chairman of the JCS.

Summary in 3 Sentences:  General Shelton reads this audio book himself, telling his own story in not only his own words, but his own voice – from growing up to joining the Army, hitting the highlights of his career in the Army all the way to becoming the top miliary officer in the country.  Highlights include his 2 tours in Vietnam, his role in Operations Urgent Fury, Haiti, and other contingencies. It concludes with his perspectives at the political-strategic level of military leadership, as USSOCOM commander and then the Chairmen of the JCS. 

My Impressions: Really enjoyed listening to Hugh Shelton tell his story and was impressed not only with him, but how he told his story. One interesting dimension of the book – it begins with him in the hospital after a fall while trimming trees after he retired, paralyzed from the neck down.  Throughout the book, he interupts his story with the next chapter in what happened to him and how he dealt with it in the hospital – and then he’d return to where he left off in the story of his life. He comes back and deals with his in detail at the conclusion of the book – after he has retired.

His is almost a classic, traditional American  Horatio Alger story – only in this case, the “riches” were in leadership and influence in America.  The”rags’ part was not poverty, but a simple rural life.  Hugh Shelton grew up in Speed, NC, a small town ((today’s population 65) in the mountains of North Carolina, west of Rocky Mount.   Living on a ranch his grandfatther had purchased and farmed, his family were farmers, his mother was a school teacher, and he grew up with farm chores and hunted rabbits and squirrels in his spare time.  He did well in High School and found his way to NC State, which in the 1950s, required two years of military ROTC training of all males – after which he signed on for 2 more years to get the scholarship money.  He finished college and married Carolyn, his high school sweetheart.  

At 6′ 5″ tall, Shelton was an impressive and strong athlete, and volunteered for the most demanding training for elite soldiers.  That included parachute and ranger schools, and he succeeded in becoming one of he elite  “airborne Rangers.”   He later volunteered for and passed rigorous Green Beret training and was sent to Vietnam as a Special Forces officer.

Recounting  his experiences in Vietnam as a Special Forces Officer is where we truly begin to see his courage, integrity, and commitment to the values-based leadership he had learned growing up and which was reinforced by the Army. He did two tours in Vietnam and his stories from that war are unforgettable.  

Much of the rest of the book is about the evolution of his Army career, how he kept getting selected for higher rank and increased responsibility – while also his wife  Carolyn supported him and raised their three sons. 

Repeatedly he did not get the assignments he requested, but took what he was given and excelled.  His reputation for discipline, hard work and outstanding leadership led eventually bto his assignment to some of the plum jobs in the US Army, commanding the 82nd Airborne Division, the XVII Airborne Corps, United States Special Operations Command and finally the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military officer in the nation.  His story includes interesting anecdotes and perspectives from each of these assignments.

Again, throughout the book his story is interrupted by brief chapters in the story of his path to recovery from his spinal chord injury.

His tour as Charman of the JCS – how he was selected and how he served primarily President Bill Clinton and SEDEF Cohen, was most fascinating to me. The terrorist attacks of  September 11 2001 happened just weeks before his term as Chairman concluded.  His account of that incident and how the Chairman responded was most interesting.  

Hugh Shelton doesn’t bad-mouth anyone, and gives praise and accolades to many.  I noted that he never mentioned West Point in the book, though in my experience, the “West Point Mafia” seems to run much of the Army.  He clearly enjoyed working for President Bill Clinton, had mixed feelings about President Bush, most notably because of his decision to invade Iraq, and he clearly didn’t care for working for Donald Rumsfeld after the 2000 election.  But throughout the book, he showed reverence for the values which underpin American Democracy and the foundational values of the US Army, of which he was a quintessential living example. 

The book concludes with the rest of his unlikely recovery (though not full) from his spinal chord injury – his soul-searching, treatment, and therapy  during his many months at Walter Reed Army Hospital, and then his activities after his release.  

Throughout the book, he repeatedly honors his wife Carolyn and in fact,  her voice is included in the audiobook’s introduction. He makes clear that she was a major player in his career and in all the key life decisions he made.  

Today, General Shelton serves as the Director of the Hugh and Carolyn Shelton Military Neurotrauma Foundation located in Washington, DC. while also supporting the  General Hugh Shelton Leadership Center at North Carolina State University in Raleigh which he helped to found. .