Call Sign Chaos

By; Jim Mattis and Bing West I heard that General Mattis had written a book. After two years of service under President Trump he was dismissed. He was derided as not being a very good General. I caught an interview where he jokingly stated that Trump didn’t think Merle Streep was a good actress either. He felt that put him in a special category. When I requested the book at the Public Library I learned there were 68 ahead of me. Finally it became my turn. I have just finished reading. To my surprise Mr. Trump is never mentioned. In fact he doesn’t even include his service under Trump until the last two pages. At that time he was serving as Secretary of Defense. In his resignation letter he merely stated that the president, of necessity, should have a Secretary whose views were more in tune. I believe the main issue between them was NATO. General Mattis felt a keen responsibility to maintain good relations. Trump’s insistence (quite reasonable in my opinion) that the European nations pay their pledged annual support had proved to put the Alliance in jeopardy. This book primarily relates to his forty years of service in the Marine Corps. During that time he rose to the rank of four star general. He provides valuable insight on how to be an effective leader regardless of the rank achieved. He was a hands on leader, meaning he enjoyed time spent with the troops. It became harder as he rose in rank. Whenever he could he would spend time with them. He led the Marines in Desert Storm, President G.H. Bush’s war to free Kuwait from Iraq. He led them in President Bush’s war against Iraq that defeated the Iraqi Army. He was also involved with fighting in Afghanistan. I will admit I was looking for confirmation of my own thoughts about mismanagement from on high. He discovered that when Saddam Hussein was overthrown that there was not a plan in place to stabilize the country. As a result chaos erupted. The Iraqi Army was dissolved leaving those men without income or status. They went home with their rifles. Jawel el Maliki became the Prime Minister. As a Shia he removed all of the Sunnis from office, the ones who had been in power before. As a result religious strife ensued. It became Mattis’s responsibility to control. He received conflicting orders sending men in to villages and then stopping them when they were about to win. When Obama increased the soldiers by 30,000 in Afghanistan, he announced that they would leave in two years leaving the Taliban with notice that they only had to wait. It also convinced the Afghans that they would be left without support. When Obama drew the red line in the sand about Syria using chemicals on their people, Mattis readied plans to retaliate but no orders were received. The troops were severely handicapped in their ability to engage the enemy for fear of harming civilians. It seems there were lawyers all around checking on them making it nearly impossible to function as an armed force. I have written many times on how Washington has interfered with the military placing handicaps in their way ever since the end of the police action in Korea. I refer to my favorite General MacArthur; he said the object of war is victory. In my opinion it has become a game using real lives as pawns under Republican and Democratic governments. If you read the book I highly recommend the last short chapter entitled Reflection. It contains a great deal of wisdom.

1941 (A book Review)

The Year Germany Lost the War By; Andrew Nagorski Reliving the war is always interesting to me. I was old enough to understand what was happening and payed intense attention as the war progressed. It has left me with strong memories. This book starts before the attack on Poland and ends in January 1942. The author concludes at this point the overwhelming advantage that was transferred to the Allies with the entrance of America as a result of being attacked by Japan followed shortly thereafter with a Declaration of War by Germany and Italy. Before the war started Germany and Russia signed a non-aggression pact which included the two countries dividing Poland between them. In addition Russia was allowed to take the Baltic States. Once Germany attacked Poland, Russia did also. Russia also invaded Finland. After a hard fight they finally prevailed. As the war started Germany was invincible. Every country attacked was quickly overrun During 1940 Britain stood alone only due to the fortitude of Winston Churchill. His cabinet was willing to accept terms with Germany. He overcame their pessimism with his oratory and determination. When Hitler realized that England would fight on, the Battle of Britain began. This was heavy bombing first of airfields and industry but then became a bombing of civilians in London and other cities hoping to demoralize the people. The RAF fought magnificently destroying many bombers. Hitler was preparing to land troops but finally had to call it off as the fall weather began which would have made landings difficult. The U-Boat campaign was devastating to England. Everywhere England was fighting Germany; in Norway, Greece and Africa they were on the losing end, suffering defeats. Americans were isolationists. Very few wanted to get into another World War in Europe. Gradually, as respect for the heroic resistance of the English people, attitudes started to change. The brutality of Hitler’s forces toward prisoners, civilians and Jews added to the change. FDR believed that we must come to their aid and did so with lend-lease, 50 old destroyers, bases for equipment. This aid helped immensely. The first major mistake Hitler made was to abandon the war with England with an attack on Russia. Although warned many times about an impending invasion Stalin refused to believe it. As a result when over 3 million soldiers attacked the Russians were overwhelmed suffering millions of deaths. Hitler considered them sub-human and starved or shot prisoners. At first the people of Ukraine and other satellite countries welcomed the Germans as saviors but they quickly learned the truth. This is the second mistake made. They could have been allies but his brutality turned them into partisans. The third mistake was spreading his forces over the entire front instead of making Moscow the objective. Winter came early and the German troops were not supplied with winter clothing while the Russians were. Hitler wanted Japan to attack Russia from the East. Had they done so Russia would have fallen? When they didn’t Stalin was able to bring 500,000 soldiers to Moscow. That is why Moscow survived. Instead Japan attacked America at Pearl Harbor. Once America was fully in the war the overwhelming superiority in manpower and weapons meant that it was only a matter of time before Germany would lose. Hitler’s obsession with killing every Jew also contributed to his defeat as the trains would better have been used to supply the troops. As is my custom I want to add my two cents. If Hitler had kept the peace with Stalin and instead continued subduing nations to the South he could have maintained the initiative and in 1942 finished off England. The entire continent would have been controlled by the two Dictators. Japan could have overrun the Pacific nations without declaring war on America. We might still have been drawn in but by then most of the world except the Americas would have been lost. A good thing he did it his way. I recommend reading by all history buffs. I found it at the Tucson Library.

George Marshall

Defender of the Republic By; David L. Roll This is a 600 page tribute to a great American who devoted his entire life in the service of his country. He was considered one of our greatest military heroes who were never given the opportunity to lead an Army in combat. Early on he became known for his organization skills. It was his responsibility to take raw recruits during WW I and turn them into soldiers. When he arrived in France the seminal achievement was a massive shift of an American Army in the night to take the offensive against Germany in the battle of Meuse-Argonne in September 1918. The success is credited with bringing to an end the hostilities. During the 30 years before the onset of WW II he was a mainstay in keeping our very small army intact. After Pearl Harbor he was invited to a conference with President Roosevelt. The President proposed spending the bulk of funds provided on aircraft. All in attendance except Marshall agreed. Marshall insisted that the Army not be neglected stating that in the end soldiers on the ground would be required, no matter how successful air power might be. It was then that FDR knew he needed Marshall to lead and named him Chief of Staff. Marshall was a strong supporter of the Germany first strategy and pushed for an invasion of France by 1943. Churchill was adamantly opposed believing that unbloodied soldiers could not stand up to the experienced Germans. With the need to relieve the pressure on Russia and to take some action in 1942, the president authorized the attack on North Africa. When that action was completed the president offered Marshall the command of the invasion force to France. Without displaying any emotion he said it was up to him to decide. As a result the command was given to Eisenhower. FDR said publicly he could not sleep if Marshall wasn’t in Washington. The new President Truman asked him to stay on to finish the war. He resigned as the Japanese surrendered. He was called back to serve as Secretary of State. It was in this position that the Marshall Plan was enacted. He is given credit for persuading Congress to spend Billions for Europe to help them recover from the devastation of the war. This was successful. Part of the plan was to require the European nations to work together to distribute the funds where needed the most. It is believed that this led eventually to the creation of the European Union. He served as special envoy to China for a year to try to create a government composed of both sides of the conflict. In this he was unsuccessful. He spent a short time as President of the Red Cross but was asked to return when the Korean conflict started. As it wound down he was in agreement that General MacArthur needed to be recalled due to his strong opposition to civilian leadership. All through his life he was a steadying influence and did whatever was required. He was a great American who needs to be remembered for his dedicated service. Jack B. Walters November 3, 2019