Former Defense Secretary James Mattis’ official portrait was unveiled on Friday, and it’s the perfect troll.
He’s stoic, looking off into the distance, with the placard for the Pentagon over his left shoulder. But, do you notice anything?
Photo: Luis Martinez/Twitter
Yeah, that’s his hand in his pocket. Clearly, Mattis has decided his official portrait should depict his knife hand in its proper sheath.
When asked what the kill/casualty radius of his knife hand was, Mattis responded that “the kill/casualty radius is whatever your Marines make it. And by the time I got up to the senior ranks, it was hundreds of miles.”
While Marine Corps’ uniform regulations state that “hands in pockets … detract from an appropriate military presence,” Mattis can pretty much do whatever the hell he wants — like write a book, though he should have consulted Task & Purpose on the title — and now Marines everywhere can gaze upon his portrait and yearn for the day that they, too, can safely put their hands in their pockets.