Mattis: Not a Drill

Marines and military members rejoice! President Elect Donald Trump has officially chosen retired Marine General "Mad Dog" Mattis for Secretary of Defense.No word yet on if the position will be renamed Secretary of Offense after this posting.To accept the position, Mattis will need congress to pass a waiver that bypasses his service in active duty in the last seven years. The only other time this exception has been written was in 1950 when George C. Marshall was given the job.So far, Mattis has already left an impact on the presidency, by altering the President Elect's views on waterboarding in just one afternoon.“Gen. Mattis made a practical argument, not a moral argument,” retired Col. Mark Cancian said. “That proved to be convincing.”It's well-known that convincing Trump of anything is a hard feat to accomplish. This move might mean that Trump is more willing to listen to other opinions to a larger degree than previously expected."General Mattis is a strong, highly dignified man. I met with him at length and I asked him that question. I said, 'What do you think of waterboarding?'" Trump told The New York Times. "He said -- I was surprised -- he said, 'I've never found it to be useful.' He said,'I've always found, give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers and I do better with that than I do with torture.'"Mattis has butted heads previously with the Obama administration over the need to prepare for potential military action against Iran in the future. It will be interesting to see what will happen under this new administration.One thing is certain; our new Secretary of Defense can't spell the word "failure."