Eric Shinseki, former Army chief of staff, accepts a bust of the Souther European Task Force lion from SETAF Command Sgt. Maj. Earl Rice following his address during Vicenza’s celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. (Kent Harris / S&S)
VICENZA, Italy — Eric Shinseki went back to his days as commander of NATO forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina to make a point Friday.
Talking to a packed base theater as the keynote speaker for Vicenza’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebration, the Army’s 34th chief of staff recalled his first meeting in 1997 with the three presidents in the country at the time. Each represented one of the country’s three ethnic groups: Serb, Bosniak and Croat.
Shinseki said they all spoke the same language and they looked enough alike that he couldn’t have guessed who was who if he didn’t know their names. Yet one of the presidents said the country would likely go back to civil war once NATO’s Stabilization Force left because they couldn’t resolve their differences. Shinseki said he told the men he wasn’t willing to accept that kind of thinking.
"I told them, I come from a country where nobody looks alike," he said. "We embrace our differences by celebrating each others’ culture."
He said that attitude makes America somewhat unusual, and is one of its strengths.
Shinseki, who retired from the military in 2003 after 38 years of service, pointed out a few of the contributions that Americans from Asia and islands in the Pacific Ocean have made to the United States military.
Among those is the 442nd Regimental Combat Team — often called the most decorated unit of its size in U.S. history. Made up primarily of second-generation Japanese-American soldiers, the unit earned most of its honors — and shed much of its blood — fighting in Italy.
Some of them volunteered to serve their country from internment camps that had been set up for citizens of Japanese ancestry following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Shinseki noted that both he and his wife, Patty, were born in 1942 in Hawaii and classified as "4C" or "enemy aliens" at birth.
He said the sacrifices shown by Japanese-Americans serving in Army units showed their loyalty and paved the way for future generations.
"I know that I would never have had the opportunity to serve my nation as I did if not for these men," said Shinseki, the highest ranking American of Asian descent in U.S. military history.
He served as a NATO commander in nearby Verona in the early 1990s before returning to Europe to command U.S. Army Europe and SFOR. Shinseki retired from the military not long after publicly differing with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld over the number of troops needed to stabilize post-war Iraq. Unlike some former general officers, he has generally maintained a low profile in his retirement, especially regarding comments on current developments in Iraq and elsewhere. He declined an interview request during his visit.
He told those in the base theater that he is sometimes asked if he misses being the Army’s senior leader.
"I don’t miss any of my old jobs," he said. "But I do miss being a soldier and the company of soldiers."
