I am neither a Marine nor served in Iraq, but I read an excellent book “No True Glory” about the battle for Fallujah. (I read the book many years ago, so this is all from memory)
The Marines were held up by a bunch of insurgents occupying a minaret in a mosque, and were firing weapons from behind the walled compound of the mosque.
They had apparently been stuck there and delayed for some time (knew they would be crucified if they fired on a mosque) when Mattis was driven up in a humvee and he jumped out and asked what was going on.
The Marines explained the situation, and without hesitation Mattis said (I have to paraphrase because I don’t remember exactly) “Get a tank up here. Put a round in that minaret. Call in some air support and put a few MK-82 into that courtyard.
They took out the minaret, and a few minutes later, a few bombs landed in the courtyard, with visible body parts and weapons flying high in the air while the Marines hooted and hollered like they were at a concert.
Point was, he didn’t care about the blowback, and was direct and to the point and the Marines loved it.
That was what I based my opinion of him on, so when Trump named him SecDef, I was for it.
Well, I was wrong, and realized it soon enough when Mattis said he was all for letting open homosexuals serve in the military, and was all on board with transsexuals serving and dragged his feet when Trump directed him to change that policy.
I was wrong, and I sure hated it, because I had high hopes.
Agreed, Mattis began tearing down the military from within by supporting Trans, homosexuals and woman in front line combat MOS. Glad to see him gone.
So the question is is general Mattis gay? I’ve been wondering. Henever married but are there stories of romances?
Good tactician, poor strategist. If he had a better strategy for the Middle East and Afghanistan, I am fairly certain he could have shown that to Trump and would still be Sec Def.