After 38 years of serving in the military, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Henry Shelton knows a thing or two about leadership.

He will share some of those lessons with the new UAF graduates May 13 as the keynote speaker for commencement at the Carlson Center.

"The message will basically center around a ‘new world to be won'," Shelton said. "I will talk about seizing on opportunities, and to have the courage to pursue those opportunities."

Shelton served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 2001 under former President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush. In that capacity, Shelton served as the highest-ranking officer in the military and as the chief military advisor to the president.

Shelton retired shortly after the September 11 attacks. Since then, he has served as board member for several corporations and given talks on what he calls "values-based leadership."

"I give talks on leadership to all kinds of organizations," he said. "The values-based leadership that you experience in the armed forces is the kind which is needed at all levels of organizations."

Shelton said his kind of leadership is what is needed for the United States to continue to lead in today's world.

"We live in a much more unpredictable and unstable world than 30 years ago," he said. "To use our ideals in a way that is good allows the U.S. to serve as an example to the rest of the world. If we neglect any one of those areas, we will not be the nation we could be."

"Today, we are in a much lower position with the rest of the world than we were 10 years ago," he added. "We need to work with the rest of the world to address the problems we are facing."

When asked about Iraq, he said that the men and women in uniform are doing a magnificent job in a difficult situation.

But, "We are suffering from the fruit of the poison tree," he said.

"We entered into Iraq without a strong international coalition to back us up," he continued. "We find ourselves today with only our loyal British allies, and a handful of others, and we are attempting to create a government that can govern."

He said the military cannot win this war alone.

"We can assist, but success rests on the shoulders of the Iraqis," he said. "We need allies, and we need our friends and allies in the Middle East to speak out, and to assist. Staying power is required."

At commencement, Shelton said he will speak about not being afraid of failures, because people learn more from failures than successes.

"I will talk about having a strong character, in terms of the values we take for granted," he said. "I will end by talking about becoming a person of value, in terms of the way you live your life."

Shelton joined the military as an officer in 1963, through the ROTC program at North Carolina State University. After being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry, he served two tours in Vietnam.

He served in various command and staff positions, including commanding the 82nd Airborne Division, the XVIII Airborne Corps, and serving as commander in chief of the U.S. Special Operations Command.

In 2002, he had an accident while trimming leaves off a tree.

The ladder he was standing on slipped out from under his feet, and he landed on his back.

"After over 450 jumps out of airplanes, this was the one that got to me," he said. "The doctors said I would never be able to walk or use my hands again. I recovered after 83 days, and the doctors said it was nothing short of a miracle."