Midweek Motivation: Mattis-Style

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Hey there, Everyone!

I know ST has requested a review of the book, Call Sign CHAOS: Learning to Lead, by James N. Mattis and Francis J. “Bing” West, both USMC, (Ret.) from yours truly. That, I will offer, in the comments on this post. For now, though, I wanted to share video of a talk Secy. Mattis gave on Sept. 25, 2019, aboard the “Crossroads of the Marine Corps”, (Marine Corps Base Quantico, Quantico, VA) in support of the book. The opening and closing remarks frame a wonderful Q&A that details the book vastly better than I can. Enjoy!

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Published by D’Nanda Panda

Retired hospital chaplain, Theo-Geek, Honorary Marine, bookworm, crossword addict, and lover of intelligent conversation, well-brewed tea and/or occasional distilled spirits - as appropriate.

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36 thoughts on “Midweek Motivation: Mattis-Style”

  1. Nanda, I’m most interested in why Mattis felt he had to resign from the cabinet. I tried to question my IT guy (retired Marine and Mattis’ private driver in Iraq) about this but he would only respond “I was disappointed.” Understand why he chose to give me a discreet reply, but I need to know what happened here.

    Thoughts here on the site?

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    1. I think Trump had lost confidence in him and asked him to step aside. Trump is probably no fan of the industrial-military complexes never ending wars – especially the one in Afghanistan.

      I’d bet the beginning of the end was when Iran shot down our drone in June.

      These are my guesses:

      1. Trump wanted more ‘muscular’ Mattis/ DOD support on building the wall on our border with Mexico. BTW: This was an issue created by the Republican controlled House. Paul Ryan shoulda-coulda pushed through a funding bill in Nov-Dec 2016
      2. Trump saw that Mattis was not getting the job done in Afghanistan. Trump got tired of hearing the same old excuses and realized that Mattis had no vision of how to win there or failing that, how to get us out of there with dignity.
      3. Mattis wanted to continue the forever war in Syria just because. Our so called allies there and around the globe either need to grow up or learn the meaning of tough love. Fighting a proxy war with Putin in Syria because ‘allies’ did not make sense to the Commander in Chief. Trump decided that tough love was what our allies need and there is no national defense imperative worth the lives of our warriors in that shit-hole.
      4. Trump saw Mattis as he really is – a very good SecDef but not a true visionary with a workable strategy to Win the Peace.

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      2. ET, I say again this is ‘wild speculation’ on my part as an outside observer. No one has given me the “skinny” but this is what my ‘gut’ tells me.

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      3. As Mattis was quick to reiterate: Members of the Cabinet serve “at the pleasure of the President”; frankly, this disappointed, but didn’t surprise me. (Something I’m feeling more often, lately, I have to say. Feel free to throw things at me; I got good at ducking “over there”, but it was exhausting. -smile-)

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      4. I understand that you’re speculating Simon, but at least you bring some prior experience with and knowledge of the Corps. That is helpful enough to clueless civilians!

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      5. Not sure I’ve seen anyone – other than you – who has such a strategic tool, ST….Just sayin’.

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  2. I have thoughts, Liz, but I choose not to air them, in deference to a decision made in conscience…I thought his letter was well-expressed; and, I am disappointed that it came to this, too. The final addendum’s title is “America As Its Own Ally” which may shed some light here. (Note that the book was begun in 2013, and covers several administrations’-worth of decisions.)

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    1. I can say that it must have been daunting to cope with a very-much personally driven atmosphere east of the Potomac [White House] that doesn’t usually migrate to the western side [Pentagon]….

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      1. I am afraid that there is no longer much difference between the egos at the top level of the DOD and that of our Ruling Class.

        Fire all of the Generals and Admirals and put the Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels, and Iron-Majors in charge!

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      1. My personal opinions don’t carry any weight; I just enjoyed the speech; I really don’t wanna wade in here…I’m ambivalent about the book, at best. (Guess that’s my review. -smile-

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      1. I hear that, Nanda. What I appreciate most about this site is that we all have personal areas of expertise. It reminds me of college. 🙂

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  4. They are serving right now in uniform and in all branches. We just have to get to them before the Ruling Class does. I think we need to stop sending so many of our ‘best and brightest’ to Ivy league schools for advanced degrees. Once they touch the elbows of their betters – they are usually lost to us.

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      2. This may not ‘nest’ near your “In time for what?’ query, ST; but, in time for it to make a difference that we’ve saved them from the Ivy League….

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  5. Glad to hear it! It just really has unsettled me…The whole Syria thing in particular….(Col. Mac – on AMR – used that ‘spillover’ image of ‘politics into the whole process.) Between that and the rising active-duty suicide rates, I guess I’m feeling out of my depth. Deep breath time….

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    1. Syria was brought to us by the Obama regime. There was never a reason for us to go in there. If the UN wants to enforce their (Geneva) conventions, they have my permission to do so.

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    2. On further reflection, the *way* the whole Syria thing was rolled out; the missing pieces of how and why; not to mention the message getting stepped on, as it’s recalibrated, was frustrating: Policy differences, I get it….Where’s the communications savvy? I’m not seeing it.

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  7. I suspect that most people who end up being generals started out wanting to end their careers as generals. The operative word is careers. I just did my damned job and let other people manage my career.

    Nothing wrong with wanting to be a general. Just not my cup of tea.

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  9. Back to the book, for a sec; I guess I was expecting more of a memoir, or a sort of “Gunny’s Rules” guide. Way too much of Bing West and tactical details for me. Mattis’s interviews and speeches in support of the book have more of what I was expecting in them than the book does.

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