Roy Exum
Just after President-elect Donald Trump named retired Marine General James “Mad Dog” Mattis as the nation’s next Secretary of Defense, I started reading everything I could find about him. I have known of his delightful quotes for some time and the fact he is one of the top military experts in the world, but that’s small potatoes. What is it about him that causes other Marines to believe he is the greatest leader in the Corps history? And why is it, not soon after he accepts a new command, his troops totally change? They feel they are the greatest soldiers in the world, their morale soars, and to a man they are totally invincible.
It is his leadership. The story is told that the wife of a Marine base commander had baked some Christmas cookies, and on Christmas Day the commander took some to the “Officer of the Day.” (Another form of true leadership.) He asked the sentry who was the duty officer and was told, “Sir, that would be General Mattis, sir.”
The commander shook his head. “I don’t mean of the division … who is today’s Officer-in-Charge?” About that time General Mattis ducked around the corner. “The soldier who is scheduled for today has a wife and children,” Mattis explained. “I do not, so I asked if I could take his place.”
That is leadership in the purest form and perfectly reflects why Mattis is constantly referred to as “The Most Revered Marine in a Generation.” This week I came across a story written by Joe Plenzler, who served as Mattis’ Public Affairs Officer in Iraq. As such, he was with the general night and day during the Iraq war and is thus an expert on the man.
Plenzler wrote, “’Mad Dog’ is the wrong nickname for a man who never yells and supports his people first, last, and always. From the start, it became evident that Mattis was of a different kind altogether.
“Instead of micromanaging, he fired those who were incapable or lazy, and empowered his staff to make decisions and carry out his intent,” Plenzler wrote. “When Marines failed by omission, he helped them learn. When people failed by commission, they disappeared. Morale soared under his command and we truly believed we were unstoppable.”
He then added, “First and foremost, Mattis is a thinker. He made being smart cool in a tribe that is notoriously anti-intellectual … This is why the ‘Mad Dog’ sobriquet just doesn’t fit. I’ve never seen him lose his cool. Mattis often reminded us that, “everyone needs a coach, but nobody needs a tyrant.” Sure, he could get Marines fired up, but I’ve never seen him yell or scream. Ever.”
Plenzler then gave 15 “ideas” that General Mattis shared with the officers of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade before the Marines stormed into Iraq. I can hardly wait to see how he transforms the Pentagon. This is leadership defined:
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WRITTEN BY RETIRED MARINE JOE PLENZLER:
1. “ALL OF US ARE LEADERS” -- Mattis was unconcerned with a Marine’s MOS (Military Occupational Specialty). He only cared about how smart you were, how tough you were, and whether you’d “stick around and fight when the chips were down.” He expected all Marines to lead at their respective levels and fully recognized the team aspect and interdependence of all members of the division.
2. “ATTITUDE IS A WEAPON” -- Mattis said that a leader’s job is to win the hearts of those they lead and remember that it is the subordinates who actually accomplish every mission. Done right, Marines will charge forward and fight with a happy heart. He said, “We must remember that we only need to win one battle: for the hearts and minds of our subordinates. They will win all the rest at the risk and cost of their lives.”
3. “EVERYONE FILLS SANDBAGS IN THIS OUTFIT” -- In other words, rank has no privileges when there is work to be done and too few hands. Everyone was expected to roll up their sleeves and pitch in to accomplish the mission. Officers were not exempt and were expected to lead by example to help the team when needed.
4. “IF A MARINE OR UNIT IS SCREWING UP, HUG THEM A LITTLE MORE.” -- Mattis believed in compassionate leadership and intrusive coaching. He also believed in tempering zeal so that, leaders “don’t allow their passion for excellence to destroy their compassion for subordinates.”
5. “THERE ARE ONLY TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE ON THE BATTLEFIELD: HUNTERS AND THE HUNTED” -- It was clear which he wanted us to be, and he encouraged us to inculcate a “hunter/ambush” mindset within the division. He told us that we were there to lead and reinforce his strengths, and to shore up his weaknesses. He hated brittleness in any form, and knew that any idea that could not withstand challenge would fail in the face of the enemy.
6. SIMPLICITY IN PLANNING & SPEED, SURPRISE AND SECURITY IN EXECUTION -- Mattis knew control in combat is an illusion — a ghost fools often chased. He preferred “command and feedback,” not command and control.
7. “THE TWO QUALITIES I LOOK FOR MOST … ARE INITIATIVE AND AGGRESSIVENESS” -- He knew that these qualities create speed and focus, the two key elements of generating combat power.
8. “REMEMBER, ORVILLE WRIGHT FLEW WITHOUT A PILOT’S LICENSE” -- He encouraged Marines to embrace new challenges. He knew the fog of war is both ubiquitous and relentless and that if you wait for perfect information, you will become paralyzed and irrelevant.
9. “NO BETTER FRIEND, NO WORSE ENEMY” -- The Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla once remarked, “No friend ever served me and no enemy ever wronged me whom I have not repaid in full.” When he became division commander, Mattis made his version of Sulla’s epitaph the 1st Marine Division motto. He told us Iraq has a population of 33 million people, and we sure as hell didn’t want to fight all of them. We only wanted to fight the ones that were working to keep Saddam Hussein in power. He told his Marines that if the Iraqi people we encountered wanted to help us, or just stand aside, they would find no better friend than a U.S. Marine. If any opposed us, they would rue the day. He sought to limit damage and loss of life whenever possible.
10. “TREAT EVERY DAY AS IF IT WERE YOUR LAST DAY OF PEACE” -- Mattis told us that if you aren’t in combat, you should be preparing your Marines and sailors to go to combat. This is the sole purpose of the Marine Corps — to support our Constitution and defend the American people. He told us of another Roman, Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, who said, “If you want peace, prepare for war.”
11. “THIS IS NOT SOME J.V., BUSH-LEAGUE OUTFIT. WE ARE THE MARINES” -- Mattis knew that most people generally perform to the level of expectation that their leaders set. If a leader demands excellence and provides realistic and challenging training for their people, the people will respond. This was a moral imperative for Mattis, who often remarked that combat is unforgiving and the price of bad leadership is the butcher’s bill with the names of young Americans that comes with every war.
12. “I HAVE BEEN ACCUSED OF MAKING MY SUBORDINATES MY EQUALS, AND I HAPPILY STAND GUILTY” -- Mattis has always been more interested in the six inches between a Marine’s ears than the rank on his or her collar. I frequently saw him go out of his way to empower talented people to do what they do best. His lead intelligence analyst in his command post during the initial invasion of Iraq was a Marine lance corporal savant who knew the Iraqi order of battle better than anyone in the division.
13. “I DON’T WANT US TO PUT SOMEONE IN FRONT OF THE MEDIA WHO IS GOING TO HAVE THEIR SECOND CHILDHOOD. I WANT TOUGH MARINES IN FRONT OF THE CAMERAS” -- Mattis knew that the invasion of Iraq was going to be a major historic event, and 1st Marines would embed more than 100 reporters. He expressed a healthy respect for the role journalists play in our democracy and believed the press was “an entirely winnable constituency.” He knew that journalists would be the ones telling the American people about what his Marines were doing in combat, and he encouraged his Marines to “share their courage with the world.” When planning the embed program, Mattis told me to focus my efforts on telling the division’s story where the fighting and dying would take place — at the lance corporal and lieutenant level. He then quoted the Greek poet Pindar who said, “Left unsung, the noblest deed will die.”
14. “ENGAGE YOUR BRAIN BEFORE YOU ENGAGE YOUR TRIGGER” -- Mattis would often tell Marines that taking the life of another human being is a significant act — one that they must be prepared to do as military professionals, but that they must think before they shoot. He said that killing the wrong people on the battlefield would drive more people to the enemy’s cause, and that such mistakes haunt people for the rest of their lives.
Lastly, my favorite of the things he told us:
15. “THE NUMBER-ONE AUTHORITY YOU HAVE AS A LEADER IS YOUR MORAL AUTHORITY AND YOUR NUMBER-ONE POWER IS EXPECTATION” -- Mattis knew that Marines expect to see their leaders at the front sharing hardship and danger. He also knew that when leaders at the front expect Marines to move forward against the enemy, they will. A leader’s example and moral authority are what truly take a unit forward. He said, “In two minutes at the front edge of the combat zone, you know if the troops feel confident, if the battle is going the way they want it to, or if they need something. You can sense it, and you can apply something.”
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“This is the guy that Barack Obama fired for good reason, because — I want to get this exactly right — he rubbed civilian officials the wrong way,” Glenn Beck said sarcastically on his radio program after Trump announced his choice for Secretary of Defense. “I have to tell you, this is what our military is missing,” the radio host added.
royexum@aol.com