Donna Diane

The games that have been afoot over choosing the next Commandant of the Marine Corps were for naught. Those within the Navy who have a negative agenda for the Marine Corps and an administration that wants gays openly admitted to the military have been bested by fate. For that I say “thank you” to General Stanley McChrystal.

Regarding General James F. Amos

I’m sure that six months ago the thought of being selected as the next Commandant of the Marine Corps had not entered General Amos’ mind.  That job just never goes to aviators and we are fighting a ground war so reasoning dictates that General Mattis or Lieutenant General Dunford would have been a better choice. They are, in the parlance of the Marine Corps, “grunt” generals, and more connected to the Marines on the ground doing the face to face fighting than our aviator General Amos.

With that said, I believe General Amos won’t be the push-over that our Secretary of Defense believes he is. That is after all the reason Robert Gates selected Amos over Mattis and Dunford.  Gates, or someone he is fronting for wants to make some significant changes to the Marine Corps and they know that the current Commandant General Conway, and General Mattis and Lieutenant General Dunford will strongly oppose those changes.  Gates knows Conway, Mattis and Dunford are tenacious and victorious in battle so he selected the guy he thinks he has the best chance of defeating.

Honestly, I believe Gates has sorely underestimated General Amos because he is an American and a Marine first. If he damages the Corps he also damages our country and our Marine aviators, I just can’t see a Marine General doing that. But what is a small minded adversary to do when your choices are limited to Marines to lead the Corps! Perhaps Gates and the people for whom he is a proxy would have preferred to choose an Admiral to lead the Marines.

Regarding General Stanley A. McChrystal

He was a poor fit with leading the war in Afghanistan from the beginning. Don’t construe that to mean he’s not a good General, however few Generals are good at all things.  For the last twenty years General McChrystal’s career has been focused on special operations. When it came time to command regular ground forces any connections he may have had with traditional ground forces were twenty years old and like brain synapses, when connections are not used they deteriorate. He failed to connect with his troops, his immediate subordinates and just about anyone except for those in his specialty. That failure made him ineffective as a leader and vulnerable.

Regarding General David Howell Petraeus

Oh this fellow is easy to talk about. First and foremost he is genuinely respectful of all branches of our military and all ranks. As an excellent leader he knows how to exercise control over subordinates so they feel respected and compelled to do their duty. Plus, who knows if he likes our current President or not and that’s exactly the way it should be, our military should exhibit no politics. President Obama is his boss and Petraeus respects that.

Petraeus’ is no prima donna. His intent is to win and thus he is open to ideas that may enhance his chance to win. If winning and securing America and freedom means having tea with bin Laden then that option will be on the table and he will execute it with authority, dignity, and prowess.

Geeze, what a mess General Petraeus has to clean up!

Regarding General James N. Mattis

I am pleased that my favorite four star, Marine General James N. Mattis, has been selected to head CENTCOM, it’s the circuitous route that carried him there that I find disheartening. He should have been selected as Commandant of the Marine Corps with Lieutenant General Dunford as the Assistant Commandant. After all, Dunford is a young man and we can have him as the next Commandant. I like to get all the mileage I can out of my excellent Marine Corps Generals. But oh my God, a Mattis-Dunford team would have been impossible for the Navy and Gates to control! Their combination in Iraq proved they are a formidable pairing.

The Mattis-Petraeus pairing is also formidable. Someone asked me today if General Mattis’s selection to CENTCOM made him General Petraeus’ boss. I suppose so, but the two will act synergistically with neither having to impose one’s will over the other. That’s what they do.

Lieutenant General John R. Allen

Well, this fine general has been royally screwed by SECDEF Gates. Had all things gone as they should have Mattis would be Commandant, Petraeus would have taken Afghanistan, Allen would have been the next commander at CENTCOM, and Amos, another fine general who has served with honor would have retired or been selected for a command commensurate with his experience.

I don’t know if General Mattis and Lieutenant General Allen get along, but I’m sure that because they are Marines they will come together as a team and leave the job better than when they found it. – Hard to do considering they are following Petraeus!

Regarding the Press

Holy cow! If I read one more story focused on General Mattis’ remarks in 2005 I’m going to gag. The press fixates on things that are often misinterpreted. Those 2005 remarks by Mattis showed that he respects freedom and women enough to fight for them.  I have a story that demonstrates General Mattis’ personality and command skills far better but is rarely repeated. I’m telling it from memory so you will get an abbreviated version.

During Desert Storm Colonel Mattis who was commanding the 7^th Marines at the time came upon a few of his Marines who had found the body of a badly mutilated Iraqi woman. His Marines were quite ready to kill some Iraqi soldiers they had found nearby because they were sure these soldiers had committed the atrocity. Colonel Mattis, himself enraged by the act, suppressed his anger and urge to revenge her horrible murder by killing the Iraqi soldiers and simply detained them. As it turned out the Iraqi soldiers were innocent of the woman’s murder.

– Ladies and gentlemen of the press, that is leadership at its best… That IS Jim Mattis. He does the right thing even when he is experiencing rage.

So, the fate referenced by General David Monroe Shoup, another favorite Marine, has bested our SECDEF and those to whom he is proxy. They may have placed General Amos at the helm of the Marines, but Mattis is still active duty and trust me, the Marines will support each other and do the right thing for our Corps and our country.