Let me explain this to you: the term "against the law" is and was FALSE and that is why I responded.
Laws are rule sets. In this rule set, there is a general rule (the 7 year bit) but also a provision within the rule for a waiver request. Therefore, NOT against the law, but rather within the law since the provision for waiver is part and parcel to the rule set.
Was I being a bit nit picky? Yes, but the original statement was false and I felt it needed to be corrected.

I had a junior officer who left the service and was trying to get hired by a good sized defense firm. He'd been involved in some work with them previously so that regulations required that he not be hired by them for a six month waiting period unless he got a waiver. Per DoD regulations (which are derived from public law) we submitted a waiver package for him. (Over two dozen pages). We had hopes that the waiver would come through, but in the usual case of stamping down on those not of exalted rank, his waiver came back disapproved.
I then prepared a (30+ page) package, he and I worked on it together, to be sent to his Congressional representative and both State Senators, in hopes of getting an oversight query from Congress to DoD to appeal that ruling. However, once we had it all together (he had been interviewing with other companies as well) he came into my office before we got all of the signatures, dotted i's and crossed t's, and advised me that he'd not send in the packages to his elected representatives. He accepted that he'd gotten the beef job in the rectum, and chose to hire on with a different company. He was tired of fighting the :mad:ing system.
That experience was frustrating, educational, and useful. In my following job I had to answer a dozen Congressional inquires over various matters regarding people asking for appeals and waivers to regulations. Knowing what can go into such an appeal helped me staff the responses.

Suggest that anyone who hasn't previously heard of Mattis, check out his excellent interviews and talks on YouTube. He is well educated, understands the current world political situation and believes that a political solution needs to be found before going to war. He can also be tough when he needs to be.

I was impressed by the reading lists that he gives to various ranks in the Marine Corps.

A surprisingly good choice in my opinion.