There is only one 'retirement plan' for terrorists.
Jim MattisRead
As commanders and staff officers, we are coaches and sentries for our units: how can we coach anything if we don't know a hell of a lot more than just the TTPs?
Interpretation
Effective leaders need extensive knowledge to guide and coach their teams successfully.
In this quote, Jim Mattis emphasizes the importance of knowledge and expertise for leaders, particularly in military contexts. He suggests that being a good coach or mentor is not just about understanding tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), but also about possessing a deeper understanding that allows leaders to effectively support and guide their teams in various situations.
In practice
During a leadership seminar, this quote can inspire military leaders to pursue further education.
There is only one 'retirement plan' for terrorists.
There are hunters, and there are victims. By your discipline, cunning, obedience, and alertness, you will decide if you are a hunter or a victim.
Now from a distance, I look back on what the Corps taught me: to think like men of action, and to act like men of thought!
I believe that many of my young guys lived because I didn't waste their lives because I didn't have the vision in my mind of how to destroy the enemy at least cost to our guys and to the innocents on the battlefields.
For whatever trauma came with service in tough circumstances, we should take what we learned - take our post-traumatic growth - and, like past generations coming home, bring our sharpened strengths to bear, bring our attitude of gratitude to bear.
Policy makers who have never served in the military continue to use the military to lead social change in this country.
The more I'm pushed in a position of leadership and I know I have to be the mouthpiece for so many other people who can't speak for themselves, the more confidence I'm gaining.
We need a new model: If you can't explain it, you can't sell it.
If there is one basic element in our Constitution, it is civilian control of the military.
It would be counterproductive to tell people exactly what they are supposed to do and exactly how they are supposed to do it to a point where they become more concerned about your expectations than about completing their work in a quality way.
I'm not a politician by profession. I am a citizen who decided I had to be personally involved in order to stand up for my own values and beliefs. My candidacy is based on my record, and for that matter, my entire life.
I know what I do for my team and what my teammates expect of me on both ends of the floor.
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