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Mattis’ legacy: Making close-combat units more lethal

Airmen from the Special Tactics Training Squadron, 24th Special Operations Wing, Hurlburt Field, Fla., learn how to operate all-terrain vehicles during advanced tactical vehicle training at Eglin Range, Fla., Feb 1-4, 2015. The STTS trains special operations forces, including combat controllers and special tactics pararescueman, for rapid global employment to enable airpower success in austere and hostile environments. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Christopher Callaway/Released)

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Last year, former Secretary of Defense James Mattis issued a call-to-arms to increase the lethality of the U.S. military’s close-combat units. His initiative resulted in the creation of the Close Combat Lethality Task Force (CCLTF).

The CCLTF seeks ways to improve the combat effectiveness of troops engaged in close-combat roles. Despite these units’ disproportionate role in the last few decades of war, they’ve been regularly getting the shorter end of the budgetary stick. Colorful projects, such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter or the new Ford-class aircraft carriers, have been the focus of the military’s leadership.

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  • Daniel A Dobas Jr

    HA! that is the exact same way I started and I lug them around also! I am not that smart, but am smart enough to recognize good info/intell that will help keep me alive, even in stateside LE

  • Daniel A Dobas Jr

    John Poole’s books are incredible, read some before I went overseas and still reference them now

  • Justin T

    Nothing will change unless a focus on skill occurs instead of just technology.

  • Daniel

    I think guys like John Poole, and Robert Scales have had the biggest influence in pushing for this. In fact, I think Mattis stole Robert Scales from Fox News, to help advise with this.
    I think it was Scales who joked, that if we were to ever get the infantryman a new, and more deadlier rifle, it might have to be made by Lockheed Martin.