Gen. James Mattis will likely be succeeded at Joint Forces Command by Army Gen. Ray Odierno, architect of the 2007 "surge" in Iraq and top officer there since 2008. (Photo by: John Moore/The Associated Press)
With the Pentagon’s announcement Monday that Army Gen. Ray Odierno is President Obama’s pick to lead U.S. Joint Forces Command, all eyes in the Corps turn to the man who has held that post since 2007: Gen. Jim Mattis.
In case you missed it, Marine Corps Times asked Mattis in April whether he intended to retire once his hitch at JFCom is over in the fall. He wouldn’t bite, saying only that his next move would be decided by Obama and DoD’s senior leadership. It’s widely speculated that Mattis is on the short list of candidates to become the Corps’ next commandant.
For now, there’s nothing new on this front, with a JFCom spokesman saying Tuesday morning that despite the announcement of Odierno’s nomination, the command hasn’t even locked down a date for the change-of-command ceremony.
Mattis, however, is keeping busy. He sat down recently for a lengthy interview with Vago Muradian, host of “This Week in Defense News,” and discussed a wealth of topics — from lessons learned over the last decade of war to the need for more simulation-based combat training.
Check out a clip below. Additional segments are posted at defensenewstv.com. (Just type “Mattis” into the search field.)
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