With General Petraeus picking up the baton in Afghanistan it’s interesting to note that his successor as CENTCOM commander is Marine General James Mattis. Mattis is an interesting character to say the least. A few years ago I heard him speak and met him at a conference on IEDs. He is a short man with the outward appearance of a schoolmaster. As soon as he opened his mouth though, you realize that here is someone who combines deep and clear thought about military leadership with remarkably hard aggressive instincts. That’s unusual, refreshing and my guess is that everyone who works for him will be inspired to follow him anywhere. He does have that effect on people. The quote at the head of this post is, I think, genuinely attributed to him. Some more quotes to give you the measure of the man are here.
Mattis has deep concerns about the over-application of technology in the battlefield. Net-centric warfare, where every level of command has direct management and communication to the individual infantryman at the frontline is not a policy direction that will survive longer than 10 seconds at CENTCOM under his command – he’s a great believer in every level of command being capable of independent thought within the framework of a mission without the necessity of technology driven micro-management. As he has shown in operational theaters, if his subordinates don’t get this he’ll fire them on the spot, as he did in 2003.
Which brings me to my one concern. I think Mattis genuinely doesn’t trust technology for all the right reasons… but he also misunderstands technology – his aspiration stated at the conference a few years ago for a system to defeat IEDs was facile and frankly misunderstood the potential of the laws of physics. As a good marine he sensed, I think, my eyes rolling and eyebrows rising when he gave his views on where C-IED technology should focus. Then I felt his eyes lock on mine, and sensed that I was then, at that very point, now, the first person in that room that he would very politely and very professionally kill first…
But, despite that experience and my concern about his views on C-IED technology, Mattis is absolutely the right choice for CENTCOM commander. His thoughtful approach will match the thinking of Patraeus and they will be the most formidable military leaders I can think of, in tune. Certainly professional, certainly inspirational and with something else – Mattis will be absolutely without fail frank and honest at all times. Being a thoughtful, scary, honest guy in charge of all that military power is a good thing for the US and its allies. And bad for our enemies.