Verified Document

General James Mattis Essay

Some of his more popular nicknames are ‘the mad dog’ and ‘warrior monk.’ He has spent decades on the war front and is regarded one of the most effective military leaders ever. Today, he serves as Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense. Prior to his retirement, James Mattis served as the Commander of the United States Central Command, effectively meaning that he oversaw military operations in a number of vast regions including, but not limited to, the Middle East. His character, approach to leadership, and accomplishments make him stand shoulder-to-shoulder with other maverick generals before him, including Douglas MacArthur, George S. Patton, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. As much as he is tough-fighting and tough-talking, Mattis is also a charismatic military leader. He managed to inspire his troops towards the accomplishment of missions and did not shy away from ‘getting into the trenches’ and, thus effectively uplifting the morale of the marines. His ability to ‘descend’ to the level of his juniors and actively engage them earned him the ‘most revered Marine in a generation’ recognition by the Marine Corps Times (Fick, 2006). Mattis is also a quick and strategic thinker as was demonstrated during his 30 second deliberation on whether or not to strike a safe house in a small Iraqi village that appeared to house foreign fighters. Although the target in this particular attack ended up being a wedding ceremony, and led to the death of civilians, Mattis would later on explain that he had only 30 seconds to make a decision based on the Intel before him (Danielo, 2007). A strategic thinker, Mattis cautioned his troops against being hostile to harmless civilians – sensing that such hostility would be used by al-Qaeda to sow seeds of hatred and turn civilians against American Troops. A voracious reader, Mattis remains one of the greatest military leaders of all times

References

Danielo, D. (2007). Blood Stripes: The Grunt’s View of the War in Iraq. Mason, OH: Stackpole Books.

Fick, N.C. (2006). One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Leadership on the Surface, Military Leadership and
Words: 1558 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Leadership On the surface, Military Leadership and Virtual Leadership seem like polar opposites. Military leadership is old, entrenched, and traditional with little flexibility in terms of normative behavior. On the other hand, virtual leadership is new, highly flexible, and sometimes signals a flat organizational hierarchy. Military leadership cannot exhibit a flat organizational hierarchy, because effective military leadership depends on the ascription to established structure and chain of command. In spite of

Military Leadership Is a Profound
Words: 493 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

It is only by addressing the challenge at multiple levels, including the system level, that we can build a force with the needed psychological strength to withstand the varied stressors of current and future complex operations." [footnoteRef:2] [2: Paul Bartone et al. "To Build Resilience: Leader Influence on Mental Hardiness. Defense Horizons, November 2009, 69.] Understanding others in an empathetic manner will no doubt serve a military leader well in

Military Leadership Looking at My Own Cooperative
Words: 847 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Military Leadership Looking at my own cooperative work in a hospital as a leader for an intensive care unit, I can see how I use all three types of leadership that have been covered in the lessons on the American experience of the Vietnam War: strategic thinking, tactical planning, and logistics. In fact, not only do I incorporate all three of those skill sets in my daily work in a mission-driven

Military Leadership Graduation Speech Greetings
Words: 511 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Moreover, true leadership is integral to coping with the struggles of life effectively or at all. Developing leadership is essential for the success of individuals or organization and their ability to implement successful leadership strategy, building talent, and develop future leaders. Leader development is a process that requires a variety of development experiences and the ability for leaders to learn from their experience, which is part of the skill

Analyzing the Military Leadership
Words: 2166 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Military Leadership Over the centuries, leadership has played a major role, in the survival, success and endurance of any Army. However, in our history there exist clear examples that show lack of leadership. Developments in the conceptual and physical components have influenced campaigns and battles significantly. They have brought about great changes in the way these battles are conducted, but conflict, and particularly land conflict, remains a human endeavour. At all

Most Important Area of Training for Modern Military Leadership
Words: 1259 Length: 4 Document Type: Research Paper

Training Most Important Area Of Training For Modern Military Leadershi Resiliency: The single most important area of training for modern military leadership? The military life is invariably a stressful one and service in the modern military brings unique psychological and physical stresses to troops. According to Bartone & Armstrong (2009), the most important character that must be fostered in contemporary training is that of resilience. "Research over the past 25 years has

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now