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Overview
“A four-star general’s five-star memoir.”—The Wall Street Journal
Call Sign Chaos is the account of Jim Mattis’s storied career, from wide-ranging leadership roles in three wars to ultimately commanding a quarter of a million troops across the Middle East. Along the way, Mattis recounts his foundational experiences as a leader, extracting the lessons he has learned about the nature of warfighting and peacemaking, the importance of allies, and the strategic dilemmas—and short-sighted thinking—now facing our nation. He makes it clear why America must return to a strategic footing so as not to continue winning battles but fighting inconclusive wars.
Mattis divides his book into three parts: Direct Leadership, Executive Leadership, and Strategic Leadership. In the first part, Mattis recalls his early experiences leading Marines into battle, when he knew his troops as well as his own brothers. In the second part, he explores what it means to command thousands of troops and how to adapt your leadership style to ensure your intent is understood by your most junior troops so that they can own their mission. In the third part, Mattis describes the challenges and techniques of leadership at the strategic level, where military leaders reconcile war’s grim realities with political leaders’ human aspirations, where complexity reigns and the consequences of imprudence are severe, even catastrophic.
Call Sign Chaos is a memoir of a life of warfighting and lifelong learning, following along as Mattis rises from Marine recruit to four-star general. It is a journey about learning to lead and a story about how he, through constant study and action, developed a unique leadership philosophy, one relevant to us all.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780812996838 |
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Publisher: | Random House Publishing Group |
Publication date: | 09/03/2019 |
Pages: | 320 |
Sales rank: | 10,494 |
Product dimensions: | 6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d) |
About the Author
Bing West has written eleven books, including, with Jim Mattis, the #1 New York Times bestseller Call Sign Chaos. He served as a Marine grunt in Vietnam and later as an assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. He has been on hundreds of patrols in Iraq and Afghanistan, including many operations with General Mattis. He is a member of the Military History Working Group at the Hoover Institution. He lives with his wife, Betsy, in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Newport, Rhode Island.
Table of Contents
Prologue ix
Part I Direct Leadership
Chapter 1 A Carefree Youth Joins the Disciplined Marines 3
Chapter 2 Recruit for Attitude, Train for Skill 15
Chapter 3 Battle 20
Chapter 4 Broadening 39
Chapter 5 Rhino 50
Part II Executive Leadership
Chapter 6 The March Up 79
Chapter 7 A Division In Its Prime 103
Chapter 8 Incoherence 115
Chapter 9 Cascading Consequences 137
Chapter 10 Fighting While Transforming 148
Chapter 11 Hold the Line 158
Chapter 12 Essential NATO 169
Chapter 13 Disbanding Bureaucracy 178
Part III Strategic Leadership
Chapter 14 Central Command: The Trigonometry Level of Warfare 189
Chapter 15 Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory 205
Chapter 16 Friend or Foe 221
Chapter 17 Reflections 235
Epilogue: America as Its Own Ally 248
Appendix A My Letter to General Robert Johnston, October 1991 251
Appendix B Jim Mattis on Reading 256
Appendix C Correspondence Between General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral William Halsey, 1943 260
Appendix D To the Families of Our Sailors and Marines Deploying to the Middle East, February 2004 262
Appendix E My Dismissal of Charges Letter for Haditha Incident, August 2007 263
Appendix F President George W. Bush's Assignment Letter for NATO Supreme Command, September 2007 266
Appendix G My USJFCOM Commander's Guidance for Effects Based Operations, August 2008 267
Acknowledgments 269
Notes 273
Index 285