Defense Secretary James Mattis delivered a stern message to the force in an Aug. 13 memorandum: Lax discipline has no place in the armed forces. Failure to be more disciplined than the real and potential enemies the country faces will erode any strategic or materiel advantage. Standards must be enforced.
He addressed the memorandum to the chiefs of each armed service and all commanders of combatant commands.
“We must demonstrate respect for all service members, build trust, and remove the cancer of sexual misconduct from our ranks,” Mattis wrote. “Our leaders must uphold proven standards. They should know the difference between a mistake and a lack of discipline,” he wrote.
Mistakes should be corrected, he stated, while lapses in discipline must be punished, he said. If they were not, only enemies would benefit.
Mattis called upon commanders to use the military justice system to address issues relating to good order and discipline. In doing so, he said, commanders must be able to discern the line between appropriate action and unlawful command influence.
“Military leaders must not interfere with individual cases, but fairness to the accused does not prevent military officers from appropriately condemning and eradicating malignant behavior from our ranks,” he wrote.
Relying upon administrative remedies to disciplinary problems should not be the easier alternative to actions that require more significant actions, Mattis believes.
“Leaders cannot be so risk-averse that they lose their focus on forging disciplined troops ready to go ferociously and ethically defeat our enemies on the battlefield,” he wrote.
“We have no God-given right to victory,” Mattis wrote. “Discipline is a competitive edge we must seek and maintain each day if we are to keep America safe from its enemies.”
