Thinking About the Future of the Marine Corps

I had an opportunity to spend yesterday at Camp Pendleton talking about topics such as the short term future and long term future of the Marine Corps. As you might imagine there were a number of areas I am very interested in including: the future of amphibious operations, the future of Force Recon, manpower retention, and having honest discussions about cyber warfare from the perspective of the Marine Corps.

The highlight of the day was the tour of the latest EFV, a weapon system that has apparently jumped the remaining hurdles and interestingly enough, has nearly finished development (as in will do so in a few days...). I thought two things were interesting: first, for all the discussion in Washington, DC on the program it appears that nobody has actually come out to see the system nor talk to the Marines who have been working on the EFV. I encourage it - understanding the difference between the EFV and the AAVs from the perspective of Marines with 20+ years of combat experience in the AAV is a good idea. The other interesting thing to me is that the EFV has only a single sin - cost. Basically the Marines have ultimately developed a platform that meets or exceeds every requirement but at a price too high to afford.

It was a quark of timing that we were discussing cyber warfare as we drove by a battalion marching. The point was well made. The first and second company were in formation by platoon marching together within the context of clockwork discipline. Then trailing behind the first and second company was the march of misfit toys - otherwise known as the haphazard collection of pencil pushers in H&S company that had a formation akin to a mob. The cyber challenge for the Marines is to get the super talented guy who can do amazing stuff with technology, and take those skills not to the level physical fitness level of H&S, or even the trigger pullers in the company, but ready to meet the capabilities demanded of Marines in Force Recon. Hacking cell phones on Monday and walking 26 miles on Tuesday? Not likely. I've worked in IT for 16 years, and it is almost an oxymoron to find nerds with a commitment to physical fitness, but that is the cyber challenge of the Marine Corps in a nutshell.

Finally a question that has been on my mind lately while I've been reading various books and articles. How many major battles in the littorals have been fought in the last 50 years without a ground force? How many have been fought in the last 200 years? 500 years? 200o years? The interesting thing about littoral warfare is the constant, ever present force on land that preps the battlefield at sea. My point is, I believe any concept of littoral warfare operations that doesn't start with Force Recon is little more than a shit stained piece of paper. I like the LCS, but that ship has a very dumb name. For all the talk about littoral warfare we've seen over the last 15 years, it seems odd to me that the discussion has divided the Navy and Marines instead of done what seems more natural - synergized an understanding the roles of each service in support of the other.

The inadequate approach by the Navy with naval fires is just one of many examples of the growing division. I'll just say it - the Navy isn't simply lost at sea without a blue/green model for littoral warfare, the Navy becomes irrelevant without that model. Naval power either controls the sea at the 'nowhere abyss' or the 'vital atoll.' The BMD emphasis is shaping the force towards the 'nowhere abyss' because it is leaving the fleet without the capabilities to control the 'vital atoll' - and yes those are the trade offs in capabilities.

Comment: Special thanks to Mary Ripley for making arrangements for me yesterday. I think somewhere along the way Marine sergeants are trained to give a 1.5 second assessment of civilians at which point they decide whether they will tolerate you or whether you're a piece of shit. Funny thing about Marines, they know a lot about their own history, and while I was probably giving the 'piece of shit' vibe as the big dorky dude with a silly grin - I found that standing next to the daughter of Col John Ripley was remarkably disarming. The transition from foe to friend in those seconds was almost magical, and it made the day very educational.