Secretary of Defense James Mattis gave an impromptu pep talk last week to U.S. troops engaged in the fight against the Islamic State.

"For those of you I haven't met, my name's Mattis. I work at the Department of Defense obviously," the retired Marine Corps general told the crowd of service members gathered in Jordan on the front lines of Operation Inherent Resolve.

He also spoke frequently about how appreciative he was of their service to the country.

"I'm just grateful. The only way this great big experiment you and I call America is going to survive is if we've got tough hombres like you," Mattis said. "Remember, some of you are too young, but on 9/11 we racked up against an enemy who thought that if he could hurt us he could scare us. But we don't freakin' scare. That's the bottom line."

He also talked about the political and social problems back in America and lamented the country wasn’t more like the culture within the military.

"You're buying time, you're a great example for our country right now. It's got some problems, you know it and I know it. It's got problems that we don't have in the military. You just hold the line. my fine young soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines. You just hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other and showing it, and being friendly to one another," he said.

"You know that Americans owe to one another, we're so doggone lucky to be Americans, and we've got two powers: the power of inspiration, and you'll get the power of inspiration's back, we've got the power of intimidation, and that's you if someone wants to screw with our family, our countries, our allies," he said.

Mattis said he came back from retirement to be around men and women like them.

"The only reason I came back is to serve alongside young people like you who are so selfless and, frankly, so rambunctious. It's a pleasure to be around you all," he said.





The video was captured by one of the servicemen there and posted to the "U.S. Army W.T.F! Moments" Facebook page.