by Jim Mattis
Toward the end of the Marjah battle in 2010, I encountered a Marine and a Navy corpsman, both sopping wet, having just cooled off by relaxing in the adjacent irrigation ditch. I gave them my usual: “How’s it going, young men?”
“Living the dream, sir!” the Marine shouted.
“No Maserati, no problem,” the sailor added with a smile.
Their nonchalance and good cheer, even as they lived one day at a time under austere conditions, reminded me how unimportant are many of the things back home that can divide us if we let them.
I believe that I and all Americans need to recognize that our democracy is an experiment—and one that can be reversed. I’m all for vigorous debate and vociferous disagreements, grounded in consistent democratic principles and mutual respect. I’ve developed a love affair with our Constitution. Its purpose, as stated in the preamble, includes, to “insure domestic tranquility [and] promote the general welfare.” We all know that we’re better than our current politics. Tribalism need not disrupt our experiment.
I’m not singling out one political party. As a military professional, I’m proud that no one knows for whom I vote, and equally proud that I served loyally Presidents of both parties. I was eased out of one job under one party and left another job under the other. I’m politically independent, guided by history’s lessons and strategic imperatives.
After he lost his son Robert in Afghanistan, my friend and colleague in arms, General John Kelly, said, “I think the one thing [the parents of the fallen] would ask is that the cause for which their son or daughter fell be carried through to a successful end, whatever that means, as opposed to ‘This is getting too costly,’ or ‘Too much of a pain in the ass,’ or ‘Let’s just walk away from it.’ They were willing to go where the nation’s leaders told them to go and in many cases gave their lives for the mission. They were willing to see it through literally to their ends. Can we do less?”
Few among our citizenry choose to be warriors. They are our thin red line. No policymaker should ever send them into battle until he has assessed the risks and costs, and is reasonably confident of achieving a clear goal.
I believe that we can get over our current malaise of tribalism. On every coin we’ve imprinted “E pluribus unum.” Out of many, one. That was the motto our forefathers adopted to avoid becoming a nation of immigrants divided into tribes. For the sake of future generations, let us keep the faith.
E pluribus unum.
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(CHRIS WOODBRIDGE)
As a battalion commander in Desert Storm, 1991
(MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES)
As Naval Task Force 58 commander at Rhino, Afghanistan, 2001
(REUTERS/POOL/DAVE MARTIN)
Arriving at Kandahar airfield, 2001
(BOB HARWARD)
Bob Harward, my alter ego over many years
(GUNNERY SGT. M. M. SMITH, USMC)
With Joe Dunford, RCT 5 commander, a leader for all seasons, March 2003
(BING WEST)
The world turning orange in a dust storm, March 2003
(BING WEST)
Lunging at Baghdad, April 3, 2003
(BING WEST)
Last push to Baghdad, April 2003
(BING WEST)
Marine tanks close on Baghdad, April 4, 2003
(BING WEST)
Crossing the Diyala River into Baghdad with battalion commander Bryan McCoy (center) and RCT7 commander Steve Hummer (right)
(GETTY IMAGES)
Marines topple Saddam statue, Firdos Square, April 2003
(BING WEST)
A squad in Baghdad, April 2003
(JOHN KELLY)
John Kelly, my right arm
(BING WEST)
Probing into Fallujah, April 2004
(BING WEST)
The terrorist puppet Janabi
(BING WEST)
Ordering Fallujah assault with ops officer and battalion commanders, 2004
(BING WEST)
IED hidden on Ramadi street, 2004
(BING WEST)
Abu Risha, leader of the Anbar Awakening, 2006
(OWEN WEST)
Side by side with Bing West in Iraq, 2007
(U.S. MARINE CORPS)
With a brave Marine, 2007
(BING WEST)
Pre-patrol briefing, Afghanistan, 2010
(BING WEST)
Platoons in enemy contact need sensible rules of engagement
(BING WEST)
Patrol in Afghanistan, 2009
(BING WEST)
At an Afghan outpost, 2010: the troops always motivate me
(BING WEST)
In Marjah with Brigadier General Larry Nicholson and British MP Tobias Ellwood (face hidden), 2011
(BING WEST)
“Living the dream,” Afghanistan, 2011
(BING WEST)
Co-author Bing West with then–Major General John Toolan, Afghanistan, 2011
(BING WEST)
On patrol, finding the enemy
(BING WEST)
Engaging with the troops, Nawa, 2012
(TONY PERRY)
With stalwart 10th Mountain Division soldiers in Afghanistan
(BING WEST)
One of a million patrols in Afghanistan
(BING WEST)
Grunts
(ALEX WONG, GETTY IMAGES)
Listening to learn
To all who serve in defense of our values
JIM MATTIS: This book, over five years in the making, is my attempt to pass to young leaders what I learned over four decades of naval service. Inaccuracies are wholly my responsibility.
Too few of those I owe thanks are named in these pages. Were I to list them all, it would take a companion volume. My parents, West and Lucille, and brothers, Tom and Gerald, do rate special mention. Since leaving home at age seventeen, and during many years of service across the seven seas, I spent little time with them. I trust they know that I carried their love, sense of curiosity, and values with me as I wandered, and I’m forever grateful that they kept me close even when I was far away.
My comrades in arms across our military and among our allies, while too many to mention individually, made invaluable contributions to my life and to the essence of this book. Too many made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our freedom, and I hold copies of many next-of-kin letters as reminders of the loss felt forever in their families’ hearts.
Only with the daily guidance and impressive skill of my co-author, Bing West, and editor Will Murphy could our
book have appeared in print. I am thankful for their mentoring and friendship. I’m also appreciative of Random House’s two years of patience when, having been called back to government service, I was delayed in finalizing the book.
I first considered writing this book following my 2013 retirement. Respected friends noted that I had been lucky to have an interesting career and owed it to others to pass on what I had been taught. I was reminded that I wasn’t in the Marine Corps for all those years; rather, I was in the United States Marine Corps, serving the people to whom I was accountable. I also carried a strong sense of gratitude that I wanted to share with the country that had paid my tuition to learn all I had been taught. This gratitude was brought vividly to mind when I was a lieutenant general, hosting a Washington, D.C., parade for retired Marine John Glenn. Waiting together to be called to our seats as the lights dimmed, Senator Glenn remarked to me, “I was a Marine for twenty-three years. It wasn’t long enough.” I was struck by his reflection. Here was a man who had fought in World War II and Korea and was a fighter pilot ace. He was the first American to orbit the earth and a respected senator, with a leadership record respected at home and abroad. Yet he felt his decades of military service weren’t long enough. In a similar vein, today I’m grateful and humbled that the Marine Corps allowed me to serve so long in the ranks, beside the finest young men and women our nation has to offer.
In the spirit of keeping our American experiment alive, it will be enough if this book conveys my respect for those men and women who selflessly commit to serving our country—soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines, united in their devotion to our survival as a nation. In the toughest circumstances, they earned my undying respect and admiration. Alongside them I’d do it all again.
* * *
—
BING WEST: Three generations of the West family have fought as Marines in our nation’s wars. We were all infantry—grunts—forever marked by a Corps that insisted upon discipline, tradition, mission, and brotherhood. No matter how tough any fight was, Marines before us had faced worse conditions and won. Marines don’t fret about who they are or what they’re expected to do.
I wrote a few books about my experience in Vietnam. One was a training manual about small-unit action. The other was about a squad that fought for over a year to protect a remote village. Seven of the fifteen Marines died in the village. After a civilian career and with my four children grown, in 2003 I flew to Kuwait to write about the impending invasion of Iraq. Jim Mattis welcomed me and my coauthor, Ray Smith, who was legendary for his exploits in Vietnam. On the march to Baghdad, we saw that Jim was a constant presence, moving constantly to the point of attack and circulating among the battalions.
Over the next ten years, I made dozens of trips to Iraq and Afghanistan. While writing six books and traveling across the battlefields, time after time I crossed paths with Jim. It seemed there was no remote outpost or isolated platoon that he did not visit. I saw him as a two-star, then a three-star, and finally a four-star. While he adapted his leadership style as his span of control broadened, his joy at being with the troops always shone through, and they returned his affection.
Each generation of Marine warriors needs exemplars. In Vietnam, we had Ray Smith, Bob Barrow, and Ray Davis. In the post-9/11 wars, we have Joe Dunford, John Kelly, and Jim Mattis. As a fellow Marine grunt, I am proud to have coauthored Jim’s memoir. Hopefully, his lessons about leading will be studied by those in military and civilian jobs where success depends upon taking care of those who follow you.
Jim and I could not have written his memoir without the dedication and brilliance of our independent editor, Will Murphy. Will is a treasure. He stood his ground against two Marines, telling us when we were too technical and reminding us that not every leader finds delight in crawling through mud. He ensured that Jim’s lessons were practical for business managers.
This book took over five years to write. Throughout, my beautiful wife, Betsy, was supportive, loving, and infinitely patient. She is also, like Will Murphy, a no-nonsense editor.
I am a lucky guy, grateful to my wife, family, Corps, country, and God.
Semper Fidelis.
CHAPTER 1
Lewis and Clark expedition: In 1805, in a meadow just outside our town, Captain Clark wrote in his journal, “100 Indians Came from the different Lodges, and a number of them brought wood which they gave us, we Smoked with all of them, and two of our Party played on the violin which delighted them greatly.” Lewis and Clark, Clark Journal Entry, October 19, 1805. lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.jrn.1805-10-19.
block and tackle: I was pleased to read this 2014 post on Foreign Policy magazine’s website by Marine Captain Jordan Blashek: “Rather than trying to remember 69 different TTPs [Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures], I would suggest that 2nd lieutenants focus on just one: ‘Think deeply about your job and figure out the why behind everything.’…To face the confusion of the modern battlefield…requires a nuanced mind capable of critical thought and the humility to ask the right questions.” Jordan Blashek, “68 TTPs Too Many! Or, Why Lists Like That Won’t Help Improve Our Junior Officers,” Best Defense (blog), Foreign Policy, January 29, 2014, foreignpolicy.com/2014/01/29/68-ttps-too-many-or-why-lists-like-that-wont-help-improve-our-junior-officers.
CHAPTER 3
“where no danger is”: George Washington to the President of Congress, February 9, 1776. oll.libertyfund.org/titles/washington-the-writings-of-george-washington-vol-iv-1776.
CHAPTER 4
first to fight: The Marine Security Guards number approximately a thousand Marines at 174 posts (also known as “detachments”), organized into nine regional MSG commands and located in more than 135 countries. Wikipedia, s.v. “Marine Security Guard,” last modified March 28, 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Security_Guard.
“within the overall intention”: Field Marshal Viscount Slim, Defeat into Victory (New York: First Cooper Square Press, 2000), p. 542.
CHAPTER 5
“No doubt about it, guys”: General Tommy Franks, American Soldier (New York: HarperCollins, 2004), p. 255. See also Nathan S. Lowrey, U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, 2001–2002: From the Sea (Washington, DC: Historical Division, US Marine Corps, 2011), p. 134: “On 13 Sept 2011, Gen Franks stated ‘Afghanistan untenable for Marine amphibious forces and that ground operations would require US Army combat power supported by US Air Force logistic.’ ”
“consideration of the Marines”: Lowrey, Marines in Afghanistan, p. 34.
“One can call it coup d’oeil”: Napoleon I, 1769–1821, Mémoires, cited in Wikipedia, s.v. “Coup d’Oeil,” last modified August 19, 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d%27œil.
filled sandbags: Lowrey, Marines in Afghanistan, pp. 82–83.
It was a constant dialogue: Lowrey, Marines in Afghanistan, p. 89; Clarke Lethin, interviewed by Bing West, September 4, 2014.
a hundred thousand wounded: “Gallipoli Casualties by Country,” New Zealand History, Ministry for Culture and Heritage, updated March 1, 2016, nzhistory.govt.nz/media/interactive/gallipoli-casualties-country.
advanced land bases across the Pacific: David C. Emmel, Major, USMC, “The Development of Amphibious Doctrine,” master’s thesis, Oregon State University, 1998. www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a524286.pdf.
“the most decisive maneuver of war”: Robert Heinl, Victory at High Tide: The Inchon-Seoul Campaign (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1968), pp. 346–51.
As they flew northeast over Pakistan: Lowrey, Marines in Afghanistan, pp. 103–10.
“from one of grim hope to hopelessness”: Lowrey, Marines in Afghanistan, p. 116.
Again, we sustained no injuries: Lowrey, Marines in Afghanistan, p. 142.
“humanitarian assistance to the people in Afghanistan”: Pentagon press release, November
27, 2001.
“perhaps to the end”: Pentagon press release, November 26, 2001.
“That’s not why we put them there”: Pentagon press release, November 27, 2001.
numbers were estimated at twenty thousand: Lowrey, Marines in Afghanistan, p. 133.
“not everyone on your staff”: Lowrey, Marines in Afghanistan, p. 207.
OBL’s retreat: Sean Naylor, Relentless Strike (New York: St. Martin’s, 2015), p. 184.
twenty-three heliograph stations: “The Heliograph,” National Park Service, updated February 24, 2015, www.nps.gov/fobo/historyculture/the-heliograph.htm. “By August of 1886, Miles was utilizing 23 heliograph stations in Arizona and New Mexico, with each station approximately 25 miles apart.”