Everything You Need to Know About Gen. James Mattis

This weekend, President-elect Donald Trump described retired Marine General James Mattis as a contender to be the next defense secretary and as “the real deal” following their hour-long meeting Saturday.

Mattis retired from the Marine Corps in 2013 after a 41-year career where he led Marines into Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War, the initial wave into Afghanistan in 2001, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He capped his career as the head of U.S. Central Command, where he was in charge of all American forces serving in the Middle East and oversaw the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The 66-year-old Mattis earned his nicknames of “Mad Dog” and “the Warrior Monk” for his attention to military tactics and strategy. He is also known for his candor and blunt talk that has at times gotten him into hot water.

Here’s everything you need to know about Mattis:

Name: James N. Mattis

Party: Mattis is registered to vote in Washington State, which does not require political affiliations be disclosed. In April, Mattis declined an offer from conservatives to run as an independent as an alternative to Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Date of Birth: September, 1950

Age: 66

What He Does Now: Mattis is the Davies Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California. In addition to writing a book on leadership, he studies national security issues, the use of military and the Middle East.

What He Used to Do:

Hometown: Pullman, Wash.

Family: Single. No children.

Key Life/Career Moments:

What You Might Not Know About Him:

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from ABC News: Politics http://ift.tt/2fLWt7S

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