That makes two of my three "monks of war" (Esquire 2006--reposted again on the site) in the two most important military positions right now: Petraeus running Af-Pak and Mattis running CentCom as his boss.
Can I pick 'em or what?
Just goes to show that not every flag officer I profile gets immediately relieved of duty! Most have done just fine.
I really had a blast writing that piece, as I combined the interviews with addresses to the student bodies at both Leavenworth and Quantico (Marine Corps U, which I do again next month). They weren't hard picks to make, even in late 2005, when I started the story. You just knew both would end up on top somehow--just a surfeit of the right experience and vision.
No need to worry about who "overshadows" whom, because they're old friends, true believers in the COIN and world of SysAdmin (Mattis being of the "Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!" mindset), and they've worked successfully for each other and with each other in the past.
A very solid choice by the Administration.
My favorite personal Mattis stories:
1) first time we met on the Rumsfeld piece, he tells me he's been an Esquire subscriber all his adult life and that he read my "Pentagon's New Map" in his tent the night before he leads his troops into Iraq in 2003; and
2) after I called him "casually profane" in the subsequent "monks" piece, he sent me an email asking me something to the effect of "where the hell do you get off saying anything like that about me?" because, "God damn it man, my mother's going to read that!" I remember that when I read his email, I just about gagged on my coffee because I started laughing so hard.
Mattis really is just about the funniest general I've worked with (Marine Tom Wilkerson is a close second--now head of the US Naval Institute), and the best read too. Guy can quote any historical figure you care to name--at the drop of a hat. The whole "monks" theme was built around the fact that many of the Marine officers who've served under him consider him the ultimate warrior monk, in part because he makes them read like maniacs. The guy has no definition of downtime--just blade sharpening.
I couldn't be happier for him. He truly deserves this as the epitome of a great career.