Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2019

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Part 1, Chapter 5

Part 2, Chapters 6-9

Part 2, Chapters 10-13

Part 3, Chapter 14-Epilogue

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Index of Terms

CENTCOM

Central Command, or CENTCOM, is an administrative unit of the US Armed Forces that is in charge of all military movement and strategy in the Middle East. Mattis was put in charge of CENTCOM by President Obama in 2010.

JFCOM

Joint Forces Command, or JFCOM, was an administrative command unit much like CENTCOM, designed to provide services to the Armed Forces. Mattis was given command of JFCOM in 2007 but disbanded the agency in 2010, feeling that it added little value to realizing the objectives of the Armed Forces.

Marine Battalion

A fighting unit of roughly 500 to 1,000 men with its own headquarters. When Mattis was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, he was given charge of the 1st Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment. This was the battalion he led in the Gulf War.

Marine Division

A division is composed of a number of battalions and regiments (numbers can vary) and is generally made up of around 20,000 soldiers. Mattis was given command of the I Marine Division in 2002 when he was ordered to invade Iraq. At that time it had 22,000 troops.

Marine Regiment

A regiment is usually composed of three battalions and usually has around 2,000 soldiers. Mattis commanded the 7th Marines, based in the Mojave Desert, from 1994 to 1996.

Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO)

These are soldiers who begin as enlisted men and move up through the ranks accordingly. Mattis was not an NCO as he attended officer training school in Quantico, Virginia. He frequently references NCOs positively in the text and expresses regret at having had to let go significant numbers of them due to budget cuts in the 1990s.