Mattis slated for command of I MEF

[USMCRET6391]

By Christian Lowe
Times staff writer

Marine Lt. Gen. James Mattis testifies before the House Armed Services Committee in May 2005. — Times file photo

One of the Corps’ most popular combat leaders is heading back to the field after a nearly three-year assignment in Quantico, Va.

Lt. Gen. Jim Mattis has been assigned to take over for Lt. Gen. John Sattler as commander of I Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

The new assignment was announced by the Pentagon yesterday.

Mattis was previously assigned as the commander of Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, where he pushed new strategic concepts and helped direct equipment-modernization initiatives.

Sattler will replace Lt. Gen. Jan Huly as deputy commandant for Plans, Policy and Operations based in Washington, D.C., a spokesman for I MEF confirmed today. Huly is due to retire this year.

Mattis was previously assigned the commander of Task Force 58, the Marine-lead air assault into Afghanistan that captured Camp Rhino in the southern desert near Kandahar in November 2001. It was the first conventional ground unit to deploy on Afghan soil since Operation Enduring Freedom began in October.

Later, Mattis lead the 1st Marine Division’s assault to topple Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq in March 2003 and went back to Iraq a year later to lead the November 2004 assault on Fallujah.

The famously aggressive combat leader has gotten in trouble on several occasions with his blunt talk.

In 2001, Mattis was chastised by Pentagon officials for announcing “we now own a piece of Afghanistan” after his successful raid on Camp Rhino in 2001. He later absorbed a few barbs from Marine Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee for claiming it was “fun to shoot some people” during a panel discussion in San Diego on Feb. 1, 2005.

Hagee chided Mattis for not choosing his words more carefully but said the sharp-tongued general “was one of this country’s bravest and most experienced military leaders.”

[Vulture6]

May 31, 2006

Mattis slated for command of I MEF

By Christian Lowe
Times staff writer


Marine Lt. Gen. James Mattis testifies before the House Armed Services Committee in May 2005. — Times file photo


One of the Corps’ most popular combat leaders is heading back to the field after a nearly three-year assignment in Quantico, Va.

Lt. Gen. Jim Mattis has been assigned to take over for Lt. Gen. John Sattler as commander of I Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

The new assignment was announced by the Pentagon yesterday.

Mattis was previously assigned as the commander of Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, where he pushed new strategic concepts and helped direct equipment-modernization initiatives.

Sattler will replace Lt. Gen. Jan Huly as deputy commandant for Plans, Policy and Operations based in Washington, D.C., a spokesman for I MEF confirmed today. Huly is due to retire this year.

Mattis was previously assigned the commander of Task Force 58, the Marine-lead air assault into Afghanistan that captured Camp Rhino in the southern desert near Kandahar in November 2001. It was the first conventional ground unit to deploy on Afghan soil since Operation Enduring Freedom began in October.

Later, Mattis lead the 1st Marine Division’s assault to topple Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq in March 2003 and went back to Iraq a year later to lead the November 2004 assault on Fallujah.


The famously aggressive combat leader has gotten in trouble on several occasions with his blunt talk.

In 2001, Mattis was chastised by Pentagon officials for announcing “we now own a piece of Afghanistan” after his successful raid on Camp Rhino in 2001. He later absorbed a few barbs from Marine Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee for claiming it was “fun to shoot some people” during a panel discussion in San Diego on Feb. 1, 2005.

Hagee chided Mattis for not choosing his words more carefully but said the sharp-tongued general “was one of this country’s bravest and most experienced military leaders.”