Chuck Roots
23 January 2017
www.chuckroots.com
The Mattis Model of Leadership
The first
person to be approved in President Trump’s administration is the cabinet
position of Secretary of Defense. To better understand the value and function
of the Department of Defense, we need to go back to the years immediately following
World War II. Up to that time, presidents were advised about the matters of war
by the Secretary of War who had oversight of the War Department. It was done
this way for 200 years, and it pertained to use of the Army. The Navy, the Coast
Guard and the Marine Corps were not included. The Air Force was not yet
established.
During WWII,
the War Department was divided into three groups: the Army Ground Forces; the
Army Air Forces; and the Services of Supply (later renamed the Army Service
Forces). After the War, the Department of Defense was created to include all
the branches of service, creating the Department of the Navy, the Department of
the Air Force, causing the War Department to be abandoned and reinvented as the
Department of the Army. As for the Marine Corps and Coast Guard, they are
generally placed under the Department of the Navy structurally, though the
Coast Guard is bounced around at times.
Retired
Marine Corps General Jim Mattis is the new Secretary of Defense. General Mattis
has a moniker that, no doubt, is causing some folks to squirm. The General is better
known to his Marines as, “Mad Dog” Mattis. Mattis was retired early by
President Obama three years ago. President Trump has chosen him to be on his
cabinet, requiring an exemption from the seven-year minimum authorized by
Congress once released from the military.
There are
Americans who are troubled that a man like Mattis is in charge of our nation’s
defense simply because he is career military, is a Marine (Gasp!), and is
called Mad Dog. Personally, I like him for all three of those reasons. He’s a
leader, and he takes care of his Marines.
In 2002, I
was called up from the Reserve to serve in the Iraq War. I was the Deputy
Command Chaplain for the I MEF (I Marine Expeditionary Force) at Camp
Pendleton. Part of the I MEF is the 1st Marine Division, which
Mattis commanded at the start of the Iraq War. Though I never met the General,
there were plenty of stories about him making the rounds.
Allow me
to share two stories that exemplify Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis, our new Defense
Secretary.
The first story
was told by General Charles Krulak (Ret), former Commandant of the Marine
Corps.
“Let me tell you a Jim
Mattis story,” General Krulak said. When he was Commandant of the Marine
Corps, every year, starting about a week before Christmas, he and his wife
would bake hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Christmas cookies. They would
package them in small bundles.
Then on Christmas day,
he would load his vehicle. At about 4 a.m., General Krulak would drive himself
to every Marine guard post in the Washington-Annapolis-Baltimore area and
deliver a small package of Christmas cookies to whatever Marines were pulling
guard duty that day. He said that one year, he had gone down to Quantico as one
of his stops to deliver Christmas cookies to the Marines on guard duty. He went
to the command center and gave a package to the lance corporal who was on duty.
He asked, “Who’s the
officer of the day?” The lance corporal said, “Sir, it’s Brigadier General
Mattis.” And General Krulak said, “No, no, no. I know who General Mattis is. I
mean, who’s the officer of the day today, Christmas day?” The lance corporal,
feeling a little anxious, said, “Sir, it is Brigadier General Mattis.”
General Krulak said that, about that
time, he spotted in the back room a cot, or a daybed. He said, “No, Lance
Corporal. Who slept in that bed last night?” The lance corporal said, “Sir, it
was Brigadier General Mattis.”
About that time, General
Krulak said that General Mattis came in, in a duty uniform with a sword, and
General Krulak said, “Jim, what are you doing here on Christmas day? Why do you
have duty?” General Mattis told him that the young officer who was scheduled to
have duty on Christmas day had a family, and General Mattis decided it was
better for the young officer to spend Christmas Day with his family, and so he
chose to have duty on Christmas Day.
General Krulak said,
“That’s the kind of officer that Jim Mattis is.”
The
second story is a letter General Mattis just wrote to the men and women in the
Defense Department.
“It’s good to be back and I’m grateful
to serve alongside you as Secretary of Defense.
Together with the Intelligence Community we are the sentinels and guardians
of our nation. We need only look to you, the uniformed and civilian members of
the Department and your families, to see the fundamental unity of our country.
You represent an America committed to the common good; an America that is never
complacent about defending its freedoms; and an America that remains a steady
beacon of hope for all mankind.
Every action we take will be designed to ensure our military is ready to
fight today and in the future. Recognizing that no nation is secure without
friends, we will work with the State Department to strengthen our alliances.
Further, we are devoted to gaining full value from every taxpayer dollar spent
on defense, thereby earning the trust of Congress and the American people.
I am confident you will do your part. I pledge to you I’ll do my best as
your Secretary.
MATTIS SENDS
Folks, rest
assured, the Department of Defense is in the hands of a man who is strong,
capable and committed.
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