They stopped listening to anything Clinton a long time ago. Word got around early on during his first run what the Clintons thought of the military.
I was in Saudi Arabia twice, in '96 and '97. We got two VIP visits, one from Gen Shelton, one from SECAF Sheila Widnall. They were nothing but unwanted interruptions in my workday, I had better things to do. I think most everyone felt the same way, because I didn't see any smiles in the crowd.
After Widnall gave her speech, she got two questions from a crowd of several thousand. For Shelton, they actually planted three questions in the crowd on 3x5 cards, I kid you not. The fourth and last question he got was the only real one: "How come we can't have beer?" He gave some waffle answer like, "We're working on that." Basically, people wanted to be left alone, just do their jobs. Shelton may be a good guy, but was seen as just another Clinton appointee at the time. We knew the Clintons had no respect for us, and the feeling was mutual.