I don't believe in hero worship and I don't care about famous people. I usually don't like any enlisted over E-7 and hate the majority of commissioned officers I've ever met.
General Mattis would come the closest to me as a hero. Hearing that man talk is refreshing. He's No BS. It didn't matter if you were a Colonel or a Private, if you had a smart idea he'd use it. If it was stupid - you knew it.
When everyone was trying to caudal the Iraqi tribal leaders and hold their hands........Mattis looked them in the eye and threatened to kill them if they didn't play along.
When other commanders shied away from confrontation with town leaders, Mattis told them if they stepped out of line, the survivors would "write about what we do here for the next 10,000 years."
When everyone wanted to pretend Fallujah didn't exist - Mattis wanted to go in and kill every terrorist there. I think we placed the muzzie body count at 2K+ after he got his wish.
When 0 et al listed their limp-wristed approach to dealing with Iran - Mattis wanted to know - 'and then what?,' 'And after that, what's next?'
For bothering to care and being concerned with 2nd and 3rd order effects of political decisions and how they impacted military operations - he was relieved.
The last time I'd met Mattis, he'd never been married and still didn't personally own a television. There's no comparison between Mattis and the philandering security leak Patraeus, or the Affirmative Action General.
Now, the above said - I don't know the rest of his politics and whether I'd want him as President.
I know he loves his country. I know watching his approach to foreign policy would be fun.
I know every tinpot dictator and terrorist wannabe would wet themselves for fear he'd wipe them off the map and send in Marines to mop up the puddles.
If he was elected on the promise of securing the border? I can definitely picture claymores, .50s, SMAWs, LAWS, AT4s, M1A2 Abrams, Harriers and Predator drones as threats to Paco and Miguel's well being on their attempts to sneak into America.
I'd like to hear more of his [Mattis] politics and maybe see him run.
I hear ya on wanting the military to be better used and backed up by the CIC here at home. But he sounds like he might be a military version of David Souter.