Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
Here's what legendary Marine General James 'Mad Dog' Mattis is really like, from people who served with him
Here's what legendary Marine General James 'Mad Dog' Mattis is really like, from people who served with him
Dec 3, 2016, 20:04 IST
Mattis has often been praised by senior leaders at the Pentagon as both a strategic thinker with an encyclopedic knowledge of history, and an incredible leader.
Advertisement
That reputation was earned over a 44-year career in the Marine Corps, where he rose to the highest rank of four-star general, eventually retiring as the top leader of US Central Command in 2013.
Advertisement
Before he took that job, then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates praised him as one of the most formidable "warrior-scholars" of his generation. "General Mattis is one of our military’s foremost strategic thinkers and combat leaders," he said.
And Adm. Michael Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters of Mattis: "I watched him interact in NATO at the highest levels, diplomatically, politically, on very sensitive subjects. I have great confidence” in his skills.
Advertisement
Mattis isn't just admired by the top brass. His interactions with junior troops over the years has earned him legendary status among active-duty and veterans alike.
Nate Fick, a former Marine captain who first served as a 2nd lieutenant under Mattis while he was in charge of Task Force 58 in Afghanistan, recalled to Business Insider the moment he realized "this guy was an incredible leader."
Advertisement
It was a cold night in Dec. 2001 at the Marines' patrol base in Kandahar, Fick recalled. They had been patrolling outside of the base, but once they were back, Fick had ordered his Marines to have two men awake in each hole on perimeter security, while everyone else slept.
"I was out walking the lines one night at 2, maybe 3 a.m.," Fick said, adding that he was coming closer to a fighting hole his Marines were manning. "As I got closer, I saw a third head."
Advertisement
"But Mattis understood that it all comes down to personal leadership. He’s the classic fighter leader. He’s the player coach. He’s out there with his troops," he explained.
Fick detailed a bit more of the story in his book, "One Bullet Away." The general then asked if the Marines had any complaints, to which one replied, "Just one, sir. We haven't been north to kill anything yet."
Advertisement
There's a similar story about Mattis even before the war from 1998, when he was serving at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia.
Then, Gen. Mattis walked around the corner, in his duty uniform. He explained to Krulak that he took the Major's duty since he had a family at home, and Mattis didn't.
Advertisement
Stanton S. Coerr, a Marine officer who served with Mattis on multiple occasions, recalled their first meeting in 1994, when Mattis was a colonel in charge of 7th Marine Regiment in 29 Palms, California.
In 2003, Mattis was the commanding general of 1st Marine Division, and he was getting ready to take his troops into harm's way with the invasion of Iraq. Before they crossed the border, every single person in the unit received a now-famous letter to inspire them before battle.
Advertisement
"A couple of months later, after Iraq fell into US hands, Major General Mattis came to speak to our battalion as we sat in Al Diwaniyah, Iraq," he recalled.
The first story retired Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent recalled was of a time when he and then-Lt. Gen. Mattis were walking with a Marine squad on the streets of Ramadi during the Iraq War. "We went to this one outpost," Kent, who retired as sergeant major of the Marine Corps, told Business Insider.
Advertisement
"This guy leads by example. He’s not out there trying to be a hero," Kent said. "He’s out there leading Marines and he’s telling them ‘I am just like you, and I can go where you go.'”
Shane Hafner, a medically retired infantry Staff Sgt. who was wounded by an improvised explosive device in 2010, had only one meeting with Mattis, but it left a notable impression on him.
Advertisement
"Even off the battlefield, he improves morale," Hafner said.
If Mattis is confirmed for Defense Secretary, he'll definitely need to tackle the morale problem in the military, which has been described as hitting "rock bottom."
Advertisement
And even if many see him as a down-to-earth leader, retired Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent saw the side of him that was also a voracious reader — "if you go into his house, books are lined up wall to wall" — who can think and make decisions at the tactical and strategic levels.
"People say he’s like Chesty Puller," Kent said, noting the legendary Marine officer Lt. Gen. Lewis Puller, nicknamed 'Chesty' because he earned five Navy Crosses "No, he’s a General Mattis, in his day. He is General Mattis. He’s just an awesome leader.”