I like that he's focusing on non-profit work:

“There is often a view that, because an individual was a great soldier, he or she will naturally do well in and transition effortlessly to the civilian world,” Mr. Petraeus will say while listing some of the nonprofit veterans groups he is supporting. “In reality, the transition from military service to civilian pursuits often is quite challenging.”

Mr. Petraeus’s wife, Holly, who works in Washington at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which handles consumer complaints from military service members and their families, will not be attending the event.

Toward the close of the speech, Mr. Petraeus will return again to his own missteps.

“I know that I can never fully assuage the pain that I inflicted on those closest to me and on a number of others,” he will say. “I can, however, try to move forward in a manner that is consistent with the values to which I subscribed before slipping my moorings and, as best as possible, to make amends to those I have hurt and let down.”

Mr. Petraeus will also say “life doesn’t stop with such a mistake; it can and must go on.”

Life isn't the absence of mistakes.

Good judgment comes from experience.

Experience comes from bad judgment.

"slipping my moorings" was a nice touch.

Mistakes aren't absent consequences.

Freud used to say there are no mistakes. Just progress.

Re-framing my entire past right now.  :-)  THANKS!