Writing for the Daily Beast, Michael Daly gives an unexpectedly but deservedly reverential profile of the new White House Chief of Staff, former Marine General John Kelly. It's worth quoting at length to get a picture of who the man is.

Daly begins by noting that Kelly's youngest son, Marine Second Lieutenant Robert Kelly, was killed by a landmine while on foot patrol in Afghanistan in 2010. The elder Kelly and his wife subsequently issued a public statement:

“Our Robert was killed in action protecting our country, its people, and its values from a terrible and relentless enemy, on 9 November, in Sangin, Afghanistan. He was leading his Grunts on a dismounted patrol when he was taken. They are shaken, but will recover quickly and already back at it. He went quickly and thank God he did not suffer. In combat that is as good as it gets, and we are thankful. We are a broken hearted, but proud, family. He was a wonderful and precious boy living a meaningful life. He was in exactly the place he wanted to be, doing exactly what he wanted to do, surrounded by the best men on this earth—his Marines and Navy.

“The nation he served has honored us with promoting him posthumously to First Lieutenant of Marines. We will bury our son, now First Lieutenant Robert Michael Kelly USMC, in Arlington National Cemetery on 22 November..."

His spirit joined his father as the elder Kelly went on to become Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense and then the head of the U.S. Southern Command. The older Kelly’s foremost concern remained the conflict that had begun with the attack on the World Trade Center and had since claimed the lives of so many extraordinary young Americans. He would speak of the nation’s other one per cent, those who entered military service and fought while most of the country seemed to imagine it was not at war.

Now that Kelly will be working in the White House, "[Robert Kelly's] spirit now goes to work... in the stalwart heart of his father":

The pundits rightly say that John Kelly will bring much needed discipline.

The elder Kelly—and the younger Kelly’s spirit—will also bring something even more sorely needed.

The Kellys will bring decency.

John Kelly was in his first year of civilian life when President Trump appointed him the Secretary for Homeland Security in 2016.

“When I retired from the Marine Corps after 45 years, my biggest fear was being offered a full-time position in the government," said Kelly in a speech at George Washington University in April. "I really didn’t want to come up the Beltway every day. I didn’t want to deal with the bureaucracy, didn’t want to mess with the politics. You see how that worked out.”

He said of his DHS’s present and ongoing mission:“If lawmakers do not like the laws they’ve passed and we are charged to enforce—then they should have the courage and skill to change the laws.”

He added, “Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines. My people have been discouraged from doing their jobs for nearly a decade, disabled by pointless bureaucracy and political meddling, and suffered disrespect and contempt by public officials who have no idea what it means to serve.”

"Kelly speaks from the heart," writes Daly,

a heart at once hardened and softened by battle, a heart in which his son’s spirit lives on. And he brought that along with him when he arrived at the White House on Monday to be sworn in as its new Chief of Staff. He raised his right hand and took the oath just as he had when he first joined the Marine Corps, as he had with each promotion, as he had when he took over HHS.

And, as he now set to work, he did so with the spirit of all the Marines who are dear to him...

He brings to the White House not just discipline, but actual decency that began by exorcising [former communications director Anthony Scaramucci].

Anybody who doubts that decency ultimately guides this true Marine on a mission need only consider a letter to his son in Afghanistan that the elder Kelly subsequently shared with The Washington Post. The letter was dated October 15, 2010, three weeks before the younger Kelly’s death.

“I know you guys have taken some licks in the last few days… Robert you will likely lose one or more of your precious Marines if you haven’t already. Do not let the men mope or dwell on the loss… Do not let them ever enjoy the killing or hate their enemy. It is impossible to take the emotion out of it, but try and keep it as impersonal and mechanical as you can. The Taliban have their job to do and we have ours. That’s it…”

He concluded, “Combat is so inhumane; you must help your men maintain their humanity as well as their sense of perspective and proportion.”

Humanity + Perspective + Proportion = Decency.

"What is certain," the Daily Beast article concludes, "is that as long as Kelly and the spirit that accompanies him remain in the White House, things there are not likely to get worse. They may actually get better."