When Stanton Coerr first met James Mattis in 1994, the experience was far from what one might expect from a grizzled, battle-tested Marine known as “Mad Dog.”
Coerr, then a Marine Corps captain, was checking in with his new rifle battalion in Twentynine Palms, California, when Col. Mattis called him into his office. Coerr was a career aviator joining an infantry regiment as a forward air controller, a pilot assigned as liaison between air and ground units. Marine infantry wear the badge of “grunt” as a point of pride, so it would not be surprising for a “FAC” like Coerr to stand out.
“I was not a key player,” Coerr told the Washington Examiner. “Col. Mattis took his phone off the hook, closed his office door and spent over an hour, just with me, telling me his warfighting philosophy, vision, goals, and expectations. He told me how he saw us fighting — and where — and how he was getting us ready to do just that.”
Mattis earned the “Mad Dog” moniker due to a reputation as a fearless warrior who led troops into battle with war-cry speeches that have been memorialized in famous quotes. But behind the quotes about how “it’s a hell of a lot of fun” to shoot Taliban is a meticulous leader with a sharp intellect.
“America knows him now as the caricature of ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis; those of us who served with him know that he is a gifted, caring, warfighting general, and the finest of tribal elders,” Coerr said.
“Jim has certain principles, but what most people don’t realize [is] that there are two Jim Mattises. Everyone now sees the statesman, the policymaker, the Henry Kissinger,” Bing West, the co-author of Mattis’ upcoming book, Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead, told the Washington Examiner. “But the troops [see] an entirely different one … the alpha male wolf on the battlefield.”
There is a duality to Mattis, according to those who know him. While the “Mad Dog” persona earned him recognition with audiences, his leadership and intellect earned him respect with his subordinates who knew him.
West, who has known Mattis for two decades, said the former Marine Corps general was a careful planner who was meticulous in finding ways to surprise the enemy. It’s perhaps not surprising that he prefers to be referred to by his former call sign, “Chaos,” which reflected his warfighting style.
Coerr offers an example in his upcoming book, Rough Men Stand Ready. When tasked with leading one of the first Marine units during the invasion of Afghanistan, Mattis sent some of his troops in by air and others over land through Pakistan.
“This sort of multipronged attack was signature Mattis: swift, decisive, relying upon mission-type orders in which his officers, spread across two countries and a dozen ships at sea, got the job done without consulting him,” Coerr wrote.
A close friend of Coerr’s who was part of the invasion force recalled the general’s orders.
“It was a pretty short brief: Mattis said, ‘Hoss, I want you to go out and kill those f–kers’.”
This kind of direct, concise command style was on-brand for Mattis, who is a believer in guiding and enabling those he commands.
“You know, he didn’t believe in command and control. He hates the words command and control. He says you need to operate by command and feedback,” West said. “You make your vision clear, then you have faith in your subordinates to carry it out and go by their feedback, don’t try to control them. Let them tell you what they’re doing.”
Mattis put this into practice when leading troops into Baghdad in April 2003. A destroyed bridge had halted the unit, which subsequently came under enemy fire and suffered two casualties. Mattis made his way to the front to determine what was wrong, worked out a solution with his subordinates, and let them implement it.
This kind of empowering leadership isn’t something unique to Mattis. In fact, he adapted it after reading that Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson would go to the point of the “great friction” during a conflict to help troops figure out solutions to problems.
“He wouldn’t take the decision out of their hands. He would just give them guidance and then stand by,” West said. “And they put planks across the destroyed bridge. We went into Baghdad on foot, one at a time, across planks.”
Adapting what he has learned from reading is something Mattis has done throughout his career. His favorite book is Meditations, by the Roman philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius, and his home in Washington state is practically a library full of volumes by the world’s greatest leaders and thinkers. Mattis’ intensity for reading is why those close to him say you can’t be off the cuff with him — he studies intensely and expects his subordinates to do the same.
When Mattis entered office as the secretary of defense, his transition from battle-tested warrior to statesman was already in the making. Throughout his career, he had worked in multinational coalitions and emphasized the importance of alliances as secretary of defense.
“In fact, I don’t think he’s ever been on a battlefield where he hasn’t had other nations with him,” West said. “So, he just evolved into this.”
Disagreements over relationships with NATO allies and partners in Syria would later become a point of disagreement with President Trump, with Mattis emphasizing his support for alliances in his resignation letter and telling the president he deserved a secretary more in line with his views.
For the time being, Mattis has chosen to stay silent on sharing his thoughts on the president directly. He will continue to be seen as the statesman as he promotes his new book in the coming days, but for Marines like Coerr, he will always be “Chaos.”
“Every single Marine reveres him,” Coerr said. “And we do so because he is one of us, a warrior, a chieftain of our warrior clan.”
