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The American people should not wonder where their military leaders draw the line between military advice and political preference. And our nation's soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines should not wonder about the political leanings and motivations of their leaders.

In any case, decisions on troop levels in the American system of government are not made by any general or set of generals but by the civilian leadership of the war effort.

The president doesn't order the military to seize political opponents. He doesn't order his intelligence community to lie about national security for political purposes. He uses the military or intelligence communities to protect the United States and our citizens, not to help him win elections.

As much as the constitutional argument matters to me, what really matters to me is this sort of moral question of can we order somebody to risk their lives about a military mission if we're not willing to debate, vote, and say that the military mission matters?

The president and I sat down in the Oval Office, and he expressed very clearly that what he wants from me is my best professional military advice.

My husband may have been in the military, but no one tells me which leader to follow.

I'm not a policy and a strategy guy. I'm - you know, the military basically supports what the president wants, the decisions that he makes.

I've been a soldier too long to refuse to entertain any request from a potential commander in chief.

In choosing a president, we really don't choose a Republican or Democrat, a conservative or liberal. We choose a leader.