Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War (101 page)

Becky and I arrive at Pacific Command in Hawaii, my arm in a sling. I had never broken a bone or had surgery before I was secretary of defense. I managed to do both within two years after taking the job.

With President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, in 2008. It was the only time I saw him sit patiently through hours of boring speeches. He lasted longer than most of his colleagues.

Lieutenant General Pete Chiarelli was one of my closest confidants. A tireless advocate for the troops, he was always exceptionally candid with me.

The dedication and opening of the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial. To my left, the president, former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld, Admiral Mullen, and Jim Laychak (president of the Pentagon Memorial Fund).

I was the only secretary of defense to take an entire motorcade to a Burger King. Geoff Morrell, left, and Ryan McCarthy of my office enjoy my lack of discipline.

President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and I are joined in the Oval Office by White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, at far left, and National Security Adviser Steve Hadley. It really wasn’t four against one. Well, sometimes it was.

In Baghdad in September 2008, for the change of command from Petraeus to General Ray Odierno. I can’t remember the reason for the levity, but there wasn’t much of it in Iraq.

Holding an informal press conference at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan in September 2008. Twenty years earlier, as the deputy director of the CIA, I had been providing weapons to the Afghan resistance to attack Soviet aircraft at that base.

A birthday present from Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England. I was uncertain about the symbolism: did he think I needed the costume for my many battles?

Just another tourist in Kosovo.

Visiting my heroes who had fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan, in Section 60, Arlington National Cemetery, late 2008. There would be many more.

In Kandahar, Afghanistan, checking out an M-29 Reaper drone, which represented a major innovation in reconnaissance and weaponry.

It wasn’t all drudgery and conflict: attending a Little League baseball game at the White House with President Bush and Admiral Mullen.