Defense Secretary Nomination Marine General James Mattis On the Importance of Reading – IOTW Report

Defense Secretary Nomination Marine General James Mattis On the Importance of Reading

Thursday, 1 December 2016, 23:15 BFH Uncategorized 20

“A real understanding of history means that we face NOTHING new under the sun.”

-General James “Mad Dog” Mattis

The problem with being too busy to read is that you learn by experience (or by your men’s experience), i.e. the hard way. By reading, you learn through others’ experiences, generally a better way to do business, especially in our line of work where the consequences of incompetence are so final for young men.

Thanks to my reading, I have never been caught flat-footed by any situation, never at a loss for how any problem has been addressed (successfully or unsuccessfully) before. It doesn’t give me all the answers, but it lights what is often a dark path ahead.

With [Task Force] 58, I had w/ me Slim’s book, books about the Russian and British experiences in [Afghanistan], and a couple others. Going into Iraq, “The Siege” (about the Brits’ defeat at Al Kut in WW I) was req’d reading for field grade officers. I also had Slim’s book; reviewed T.E. Lawrence’s “Seven Pillars of Wisdom”; a good book about the life of Gertrude Bell (the Brit archaeologist who virtually founded the modern Iraq state in the aftermath of WW I and the fall of the Ottoman empire); and “From Beirut to Jerusalem”. I also went deeply into Liddell Hart’s book on Sherman, and Fuller’s book on Alexander the Great got a lot of my attention (although I never imagined that my HQ would end up only 500 meters from where he lay in state in Babylon).

Ultimately, a real understanding of history means that we face NOTHING new under the sun.

For all the “4th Generation of War” intellectuals running around today saying that the nature of war has fundamentally changed, the tactics are wholly new, etc, I must respectfully say … “Not really”: Alex the Great would not be in the least bit perplexed by the enemy that we face right now in Iraq, and our leaders going into this fight do their troops a disservice by not studying (studying, vice just reading) the men who have gone before us.

We have been fighting on this planet for 5000 years and we should take advantage of their experience. “Winging it” and filling body bags as we sort out what works reminds us of the moral dictates and the cost of incompetence in our profession. As commanders and staff officers, we are coaches and sentries for our units: how can we coach anything if we don’t know a hell of a lot more than just the [Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures]? What happens when you’re on a dynamic battlefield and things are changing faster than higher [Headquarters] can stay abreast? Do you not adapt because you cannot conceptualize faster than the enemy’s adaptation? (Darwin has a pretty good theory about the outcome for those who cannot adapt to changing circumstance — in the information age things can change rather abruptly and at warp speed, especially the moral high ground which our regimented thinkers cede far too quickly in our recent fights.) And how can you be a sentinel and not have your unit caught flat-footed if you don’t know what the warning signs are — that your unit’s preps are not sufficient for the specifics of a tasking that you have not anticipated?

Perhaps if you are in support functions waiting on the warfighters to spell out the specifics of what you are to do, you can avoid the consequences of not reading. Those who must adapt to overcoming an independent enemy’s will are not allowed that luxury.

This is not new to the USMC approach to warfighting — Going into Kuwait 12 years ago, I read (and reread) Rommel’s Papers (remember “Kampstaffel”?), Montgomery’s book (“Eyes Officers”…), “Grant Takes Command” (need for commanders to get along, “commanders’ relationships” being more important than “command relationships”), and some others.

As a result, the enemy has paid when I had the opportunity to go against them, and I believe that many of my young guys lived because I didn’t waste their lives because I didn’t have the vision in my mind of how to destroy the enemy at least cost to our guys and to the innocents on the battlefields.

Hope this answers your question…. I will cc my ADC in the event he can add to this. He is the only officer I know who has read more than I.

Semper Fi, Mattis

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20 Comments on Defense Secretary Nomination Marine General James Mattis On the Importance of Reading

  2. and just as soon as he’s confirmed, President Trump should get rid of the dept of defense, and rename it by its CORRECT NAME….THE DEPT OF WAR…..

    little known fact…..the United States of America has never once won a war since the Department of War was renamed the Dept of Defense……closest we came was the “truce” with the Norks………and they announced the end of that truce a couple years ago…..which means they’re still at war with us, whether we like it not……whether we act on it or not….technically, we are at war with the norks, but who cares?

    we need to reinstate the Dept of WAR……..just that renaming would send a message to the world……

    i’m seriously tired of always playing the wrong side of the ball……the best defense is a GOOD OFFENCE…….

  3. History is brutal. Understand (read about) history It repeats and the brutality and the ugliness upon man that it has wrought is bad. Satan bad. Then understand the United States of America and our Constitution and the change upon those thousands of years.

  4. I think this is a great choice as well. President Elect Trump has done more to make America Great, in less than a month, than obama did in 8 years. And he hasn’t even taken office yet.

  5. Speaking of reading about history, if anyone is interested in a great history book I absolutely recommend “The 48 Laws of Power”. I’ve given away dozens of copies of it and I can’t say everyone raved about it, in fact most people probably didn’t even read it, but those that did thanked me afterward.

  9. I was referring to ISIS learning the hard way and never forgetting. Obama has made them complacent. Mattis unleashed (I think) is gonna change some “work rules” regarding military engagement procedures.

    My post above is the result of thinking faster than typing and leaving out my explanation.

  14. He’s got a ton of memorable quotes. I make my judgment based on the men that served beneath him and beleave me, you can’t find one that’s got a bad thing to say or wouldn’t march into hell for him. What I’m saying is this guys got a Marine Corp following like nobodies ever seen before. The Marines started joking about Mattis for Sec of Defense during the primaries. Needless to say most of them are drunk tonight. Very exciting watch.

  15. I come in peace. I have no artillery. But I plead with you, with tears in my eyes, if you fuck with me, I’ll kill you all.

    Now that kind of talk will not go over well with the snowdrops in the MSM.

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