General Stanley McChrystal's Retirement

At ABC NEWS, "McChrystal: Service Did Not End Like I'd Imagined":

"This has the potential to be awkward," General Stanley McChrystal said tonight at his retirement ceremony -- his first public comments since he was fired by President Obama as the commander of troops in Afghanistan.

His 34-year-old Army career ended abruptly on a sweltering parade field at Fort McNair in Washington, DC just one month after he and his aides were quoted in a Rolling Stone article bashing senior members of the administration's leadership, including the president himself.

Though tonight's ceremony contained the usual pomp and circumstance reserved for a four-star general, it marked the unceremonious end for a military leader hailed as a visionary savior of the war in Afghanistan just months ago when President Obama rolled out a new war strategy based in large part on McChrystal's recommendations.

"My service did not end as I'd imagined," he conceded, addressing his inglorious termination directly.

Also at NYT (FWIW), "McChrystal Ends Service With Regret and a Laugh."

And if you missed it somehow, at Rolling Stone, "The Runaway General."