Reddit reviews Generation Kill

If you're interested in a more colorful (and almost definitely less true) picture of Mattis, he is actually a character in the excellent HBO series Generation Kill, although a minor one who is only on screen in a few episodes.

The series focuses on a team of recon marines who experience the absurdity and futility of the Iraq War. Their commanding officer spends all of his time desperately trying to anticipate what General Mattis wants and to make him happy - and makes a number of arguably terrible decisions as a result.

EDIT: Generation Kill is based on the excellent book of the same name, if you have a more literary bent. I can't remember how much it goes into Mattis, but it is likely more detailed and accurate than the TV series.

> From personal experience military intelligence is an oxymoron.

Unfortunately, anecdotally this is too true for most military's. Information in the modern world changes so rapidly that the military bureaucracy and chain of command tend's to do nothing more then to just slow down the rate at which accurate info is provided to front line troops.

A great example is in the now famous Generation Kill and One Bullet Away. The unit is constantly supplied with FRAGO's and new mission objectives based on faulty and outdated information that time and time again places them in ambushes, traps, and situations where the only reason they leave alive is because of the ineptitude of the enemy, not their own skill.