, during
Operation Enduring Freedom in February 2003. Mattis enlisted in the
Marine Corps Reserve in 1969. He was commissioned a
second lieutenant through the
Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps on January 1, 1972. During his service years, Mattis was considered an "intellectual" among the upper ranks.
Robert H. Scales, a retired
United States Army major general, called him "one of the most urbane and polished men I have known." As a lieutenant, Mattis was assigned as a rifle and weapons
platoon commander in the
3rd Marine Division. As a
captain, he was assigned as the
Naval Academy Preparatory School's
Battalion Officer, commanded rifle and weapons companies in the
1st Marine Regiment, then served at
Recruiting Station Portland, Oregon, as a
major. As a
colonel, Mattis commanded the
7th Marine Regiment from June 28, 1994, to June 14, 1996. Mattis is a graduate of the US Marine Corps Amphibious Warfare School,
US Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the
National War College. He is noted for his interest in the study of
military history and
world history, He required his Marines to be well-read in the culture and history of regions where they were deployed, and had his Marines deploying to Iraq undergo "cultural sensitivity training".
War in Afghanistan Mattis led the
1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade as its commanding officer upon promotion to brigadier general. It was as a regimental commander that he earned his nickname and call sign, "CHAOS", an acronym for "Colonel Has Another Outstanding Solution", which was initially somewhat tongue in cheek. During the initial planning for the War in Afghanistan, Mattis led Task Force 58 in operations in the southern part of the country beginning in November 2001. This led to him becoming the first Marine Corps officer to command a Naval Task Force in combat. In December 2001, an airstrike carried out by a
B-52 bomber inadvertently targeted a position held by US
special operations troops and Afghan militiamen in
Uruzgan Province. Numerous men were wounded in the incident, but Mattis repeatedly refused to dispatch helicopters from the nearby
Camp Rhino to recover them, citing operational safety concerns. Instead, an Air Force helicopter flew from
Uzbekistan to ferry the men to the
Marine Corps base where helicopters sat readily available but unauthorized to fly. Captain
Jason Amerine blamed the delay caused by Mattis's refusal to order a rescue operation for the deaths of several men. Amerine wrote, "Every element in Afghanistan tried to help us except the closest friendly unit, commanded by Mattis," though he also wrote that "none of that was assessed properly because the
5th Special Forces Group] chose not to call for a formal investigation". This episode was used against Mattis when he was nominated for defense secretary in 2016. While serving in Afghanistan as a
brigadier general, Mattis was known as an officer who engaged his men with "real leadership". A young Marine officer,
Nathaniel Fick, said he witnessed Mattis in a
fighting hole talking with a sergeant and lance corporal: "No one would have questioned Mattis if he'd slept eight hours each night in a private room, to be woken each morning by an aide who ironed his uniforms and heated his
MREs. But there he was, in the middle of a freezing night, out on the lines with his Marines."
Iraq War , addressed to members of the 1st Marine Division As a
major general, Mattis commanded the
1st Marine Division during the
2003 invasion of Iraq and the
Iraq War. Mattis played key roles in combat operations in
Fallujah, including negotiation with the insurgent command inside the city during
Operation Vigilant Resolve in April 2004, as well as participation in planning of the subsequent
Operation Phantom Fury in November.
Wedding bombing In May 2004, Mattis ordered the 3 a.m. bombing of what his intelligence section had reported was a suspected enemy
safe house near the Syrian border, but was later reported to be
a wedding party and allegedly resulted in the deaths of 42 civilians, including 11 women and 14 children. Mattis said it had taken him 30 seconds to decide whether to bomb the location. Describing the wedding as implausible, he said, "How many people go to the middle of the desert to hold a wedding from the nearest civilization? These were more than two dozen military-age males. Let's not be naive." The occurrence of a wedding was disputed by military officials, but the
Associated Press obtained video footage showing a wedding party and a video the next day showed musical instruments and party decoration among the remains. When asked by the press about footage on Arabic television of a child's body being lowered into a grave, he replied: "I have not seen the pictures but bad things happen in wars. I don't have to apologize for the conduct of my men."
Department of Defense survey Following a Department of Defense survey that showed only 55% of US soldiers and 40% of Marines would report a colleague for abusing civilians, Mattis told Marines in May 2007 that "whenever you show anger or disgust toward civilians, it's a victory for
al-Qaeda and other insurgents." Believing that a need for restraint in war as key to defeating an insurgency, he added: "every time you wave at an Iraqi civilian,
al-Qaeda rolls over in its grave."
1st Marine Division's motto "no better friend, no worse enemy" Mattis popularized the
1st Marine Division's motto "no better friend, no worse enemy", a paraphrase of the epitaph the
Roman dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla wrote for himself, in his open letter to all men within the division for their return to Iraq. This phrase later became widely publicized during the investigation into the conduct of Lieutenant
Ilario Pantano, a platoon commander serving under Mattis.
Cultural sensitivity training As his division prepared to ship out, Mattis called in "experts on the Middle East" for "cultural sensitivity training". He constantly toured the battlefield to tell stories of Marines who were able to show "discretion in moments of high pressure". As an apparent example, he encouraged his Marines to grow moustaches to look more like the people they were working with.
Removal of senior leaders He was also noted for a willingness to remove senior leaders under his command when the US military seemed unable or unwilling to relieve underperforming or incompetent officers. During the division's push to Baghdad, Mattis relieved Colonel Joe D. Dowdy, commander of
Regimental Combat Team-1. It was such a rare occurrence in the modern military that it made the front page of newspapers. Despite this, Mattis declined to comment on the matter publicly other than to say that the practice of officer relief remains alive, or at least "we are doing it in the Marines."
Combat Development Command After being promoted to
lieutenant general, Mattis took command of
Marine Corps Combat Development Command. In February 2005, speaking at a forum in
San Diego, he said, "Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling. You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." Mattis's remarks sparked controversy; General
Michael Hagee,
commandant of the Marine Corps, issued a statement suggesting Mattis should have chosen his words more carefully, but he would not be disciplined.
US Joint Forces Command , Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates, Admiral
Mike Mullen and General Mattis in Baghdad, Iraq, September 2010
The Pentagon announced on May 31, 2006, that Mattis had been chosen to take command of the
I Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. On September 11, 2007, Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates announced that President
George W. Bush had nominated Mattis for appointment to the rank of general to command
US Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) in
Norfolk, Virginia. NATO agreed to appoint Mattis as
Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT). On September 28, 2007, the
United States Senate confirmed Mattis's nomination, and he relinquished command of the I MEF on November 5, 2007, to Lieutenant General Samuel Helland. Mattis was promoted to four-star general and took control of
USJFCOM/
SACT on November 9, 2007. On September 9, 2009, French Air Force General
Stéphane Abrial assumed the position of SACT. Mattis remained commander of JFCOM from November 2007 until September 2010. In July, he was recommended by
Defense Secretary Robert Gates for nomination to replace
David Petraeus as commander of
United States Central Command (CENTCOM), and formally nominated by President Obama on July 21. Mattis took command at a ceremony at
MacDill Air Force Base on August 11. As head of Central Command, Mattis oversaw the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was responsible for a region that includes
Syria, Iran, and Yemen. He lobbied the Obama administration for a more aggressive response to Iran, including more covert operations and disruption of Iranian arms shipments to Syria and
Yemen. After an incident in 2011 where an Iranian jet had attacked a U.S. drone flying over the
Persian Gulf in international airspace, Mattis wanted permission to shoot down any Iranian aircraft that was attacking American drones, but the
Obama administration denied this request. According to
Leon Panetta, the Obama administration did not place much trust in Mattis because he was perceived as too eager for a military confrontation with
Iran. Panetta later said, though, that some of the mistrust was unjustified, arising from the inexperience of some White House staff not understanding the need "to look at all of the options that a president should look at in order to make the right decisions." Nevertheless, Mattis's hawkishness was out of step with the White House's perspective, and "ultimately, Mattis's advocacy and aggressive style alienated the White House and the president he was serving." Mattis retired in March 2013, and the Defense Department nominated General
Lloyd Austin to succeed him. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan asked Mattis to serve as a military advisor in the Yemen war conflict. During Mattis's tenure as the Secretary of Defense under
President Trump, his consultation with the UAE was omitted from public record and financial disclosure. Mattis's relationship with the UAE was strong, featuring a speech in Abu Dhabi initially set to be compensated at $100,000 but later clarified as unpaid. == Civilian career ==