OK, I took a few days off to catch up on replying to the many comments in hopes of allowing the number of hits to subside, and it appears it has, albeit the aggregate is now over 250,000. So, I wonder what the dissatisfied earthlings are up to now? I did hear from the “Clan of Colonels” finally — maybe I should refer to them as the “Klan of Kernels.” Oh, you don’t know who they are? Well, stay tuned, maybe they’ll raise their uniformed heads after this one. LOL
The following will “probably” be my last post dealing with Mr. Mattis, I need to get some things done at home instead of spending much of my days trying to reply to everyone who saw fit to respond, even the idiots who chose to make comments having not vetted them first. Don’t know who coined the phrase, but it sure appeared on here a few times; “You can’t fix stupid.”
Anyway, I digress. This last post was actually a comment made by a retired Marine LtCol, whose name will remain anonymous. Maybe some of you read it before I deleted it so I could post it on here without revealing his name. Of all your comments I thought this one rose to the top,
Sir, I’m sure you are probably reading this and I certainly hope you do not mind me using it as a post for all to read. You nailed it and raised a very important issue many have not considered — including me. It’s an issue with which I cannot imagine anyone finding fault, but I am sure there will be some, they are out there just waiting to attack like junk yard dogs — bless them as they cannot help it, they were trained that way.
Read and absorb, think of your own family and what you may have been going through these last several years as our society lost it moral compass.
Seeing a lot of hoopla over General Mattis criticism of President Trump. While it’s certainly his prerogative to criticize whomever he wishes, as it is mine to criticize whomever I wish. So, I’ll play armchair QB and provide a little criticism for General Mattis. General Mattis enjoyed a long and illustrious career in the Marines, as did I. No doubt General Mattis was a distinguished & superb officer. Funny thing about a long military career, you routinely receive evaluations and awards for doing a superb job. Every year you receive a fitness report telling the world how great a job you’ve done, how incredible you are, how much money you saved, how many men you’ve inspirationally led, that you are the next best thing since sliced bread and peanut butter, etc.. etc… After a while you begin to believe all those things, that you are the peanut butter, the bread and the knife that spreads it. And then the Corps tells you your service is no longer required and you then find out, the hard way in some instances, that while you may have been good, there are lots of “good” folks out in the real world doing magnificent things as well.
General Mattis has never been married, never raised children, never started or ran his own business, and now sits on a nice cushy 4-star retirement for the remainder of his life; not begrudging that, he earned it. A man who will never know the anguish or fear of sending a child off to school and worrying if some creepy pedophile (re-re-re-released into society by an even creeper and perverted politician/bureaucrat) will molest them. Or worrying if his child will be accosted by gangs or get involved in gang activity because “soft-on-crime” weak wristed lib-nut bums won’t enforce law and order. Or being the entrepreneur who’s just invested his life’s savings, real skin in the game, everything he owns riding into that restaurant or hardware store only to watch some distorted perverted anarchist or thug take his property, along with his dreams, and perhaps with little chance of recovery. Or that single mom and sole provider for two hungry mouths being informed that her job is gone because the business where she worked just burnt to the ground. I could go on, but you get the picture. All a result of weak wristed corrupted politicians who either can’t or won’t enforce law & order and perform their duties and protect (won’t let the police do their job) the people from lawless chaos.
Our constitution provides that our Government’s responsibility (in reality, practically the gov sole responsibility) is exactly that; to provide that safety so “the people” can enjoy those assurances of life, property and liberty necessary for a healthy and prosperous society. And it also provides that should those imperatives be infringed upon by foreign or “domestic” tyranny that the government will do “whatever necessary” to intervene and prevent the disruption of our hard-earned liberties. No Gen Mattis, President Trump is not dividing us, you are obviously confusing him with the previous president who left the White House after we-the-people elected Trump. And Trump, is doing exactly what we-the-people hired him to do.
For the first time in a very long time someone told Gen Mattis that he wasn’t the peanut butter, sliced bread and the knife, that he didn’t make the grade, and he didn’t like that.
Originally posted 2020-06-10 11:05:27.
I CHOSE TO ANSWER THIS GENTS COMMENTS ON HIS COMMENT VICE ME HAVING TO RETYPE SOME OF THINGS I WANTED TO COMMENT ON. SORRY, BUT ALL THE CAPS ON HERE ARE MINE NOT CRAIG’S, SORRY, BUT I AM GETTING TIRED OF ANSWERING BS ABOUT MATTIS, HE’S A LOST CAUSE. I’VE OTHER FISH TO FRY. IF FOLKS WANT TO RANT ABOUT MATTIS AND START ASKING ME ALL SORTS OF QUESTIONS, MOST OF WHICH I HAVE ANSWERED NUMEROUS TIMES, MIGHT I SUGGEST THEY START THEIR OWN BLOG. THAT WAY THEY CAN RUN ON FOR 1000’S OF WORDS THEMSELVES. I’M OUT OF HERE. ON TO MORE IMPORTANT INCIDENTS FACING OUR NATION.
Who Do You Trust – The Military or Politicians
Pew Report on Trust – A Great Deal / Fair Amount
US Military 80%
Elected Officials 25%
3 and 4 Star Mililtary Officers / Elected Official LOVE HIM, TRUST HIM EMPHATICALLY, VOTED FOR HIM FIRST TIME WILL DO SO AGAIN!!!
James Mattis NO President Trump
John Kelly NO
Colin Powell HELL NO!
William H. McRaven ONCE DID, BUT NO MORE
Michael Hayden NO
Stanley McChrystal HELL NO
James Stavridis NO OPINION
Joseph Votel NO OPINION
H. R. McMaster ONCE DID, BUT NO M ORE
David Petraeus ONCE REALLY LIKED HIM, BUT NO MORE
Jack Keane NO OPINION
Who do the American people trust the most? Who do we Vets trust the most? Pretty easy answer for most of us. Most of us trust the US Military way more than politicians.
Much of the criticism of the President was when he withdrew our forces fighting ISIS and we abandoned the Kurds. To me it felt like Vietnam all over again. We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. We set up ISIS so it can rise again and we let the Kurds get screwed over by the Syrians, Iraqi’s and Turks. Russia won big time.
MATTIS KNEW THEY WOULD BE DECIMATED, DIDN’T HAPPEN. PERSONALLY, I AM SICK AND TIRED OF BEING THE WORLDS’ COPS. HAVE YOU HAD ANY CONVERSATIONS WITH NCO’S IN THE CORPS OF LATE? I HAVE, THEY ARE GETTING DISGUSTED, BURNED OUT, TIRED OF DEPLOYMENTS. ALL FOR WHAT? SO WE LEAVE AND EVERYTHING GOES BACK TO WHERE IT WAS E.G., TRIBES FIGHTING EACH OTHER FOR POWER. THOSE FOLKS IN MID-EAST HAVE BEEN FIGHTING EACH OTHER FORM 1,000’S OF YEARS. GET OUT NOW IS MY MANTRA. WE HAVE PROBLEMS HERE AT HOME THAT SERIOUSLY NEED THE ATTENTION OF OUR MILITARY.
Vietnam was easier to understand. The American people were sick of it and wanted out. My thoughts on how we abandoned the South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos at:
http://worldwarcoldwarvietnam.blogspot.com THE POLITICIANS MADE US LOSE THAT ONE, GET OVER IT
But we had strong support for the fight against ISIS and the Kurds were doing most of the fighting and dying. The President withdrew because Turkey, Syria, and Russia wanted us out, against the recommendation of his military experts. General Mattis resigned over it.
___________________
Joseph Dunford LOVE HIM, TRUST HIM, MAKES SENSE TO ME,, OTHERS SHOULD FOLLOW SUIT.
What he’s said: Dunford has not directly criticized Trump or his policies, though he did come to the defense of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a White House Ukraine specialist and witness in the impeachment inquiry, following attacks on Vindman’s loyalty. When we corresponded with Dunford in October, he explained why he was committed to staying apolitical.
“I will remain apolitical in retirement—I will not comment on President Trump or his policies in public,” he said. “I do believe that retired senior leaders can contribute to shaping defense policy, but that can be done without engaging in partisan politics … Individuals who believe they must act in a manner inconsistent with our ethos must weigh the perceived need to speak out with the potential damage to the institution of the U.S. military. As a matter of routine, nearly 80 percent of the American people trust the U.S. military … That is in large part because we are not seen as Democrats or Republicans. We are seen as Americans who take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
WHY DO ALL THE MILITARY GUYS LEAVE OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE OATH IN MY VIEW.” AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC. PITIFUL I BELIEVE IT IS ON PURPOSE.
https://www.pewresearch.org/ft_19-03-21_scienceconfidence_americans-trust-in-military/
I retired to the same community as General Mattis and see and talk to him occasionally in a local grocery store. While I will continue to respect and admire his accomplishments in uniform, I will feel obligated to tell him that I am disappointed in his opinions and publication of those liberal opinions regarding President Trump. In retrospect he attended Central Washington University. An institution of higher education, not known for conservative values. A lot of things change when one quits wearing a uniform blouse and uniform trousers, and trades it for pants and suit-coats.
Funny thing about the recent blog and news activity on Mattis, I told my wife about three weeks ago he had lost the privilege of me calling
him a Marine. I now place him in the dishonorable category with Oliver North.
I know I am just a retired captain with a bunch of enlisted years but I wanted to put my two cents in with the colonels.
One of the very best evaluations of General Mattis I have read. When a War Horse is put out to pasture he should doze in the shade and not tell the Farmer how to grow hay or corn. Semper Fi, Sir
LOL, BZ US Marine, that is very best (and most humorous) analogy I have received yet. Semper Fi my Brother, and thanks. It pulpwood take a fellow 0369 to come up with that one LOL
Jim
While Mattis gained accolades and celebrity based on his leadership of the men who actually did the job, he obviously came to believe that only he was the hammer and everyone else was the nail. He acquired the same level of egomania that Douglas MacArthur did, trying to usurp the authority of the Commander-in-Chief. Apparently he prefers chaos over solutions.
A good example of the Peter Principle, he strayed far out of his lane and above his pay grade, not now having and never having had the responsibility and level of responsibility that the President bears.
He should, in the words of his channeled persona, just fade away.
Jim, great post and I agree completely. As a retired jarhead myself I learned very quickly that my bosses in the civilian world were not very interested in my military accomplishments. They were certainly thankful for my service. The things that they took the most interest in were what I had done to improve that company today and in the future. I think Gen. Mattis lost that outlook somewhere along the way. It can certainly be agreed that he protected our country in the past but what has done to circumvent the onslaught of the socialist agenda today and in the future.