Compass Points - New Future?
Commandant Looks to the Future.
Compass Points - New Future?
Commandant Looks to the Future.
November 12, 2025
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This year, as the Marine Corps celebrates its 250th anniversary, it is worth asking, what is the Marine Corps’ future?
For decades the Marine Corps was very clear and very focused that the future of the Marine Corps would be an updated and enhanced version of what the Nation has long expected from its Marine Corps, global, 9-1-1 crisis response. Worldwide threats and crises never cease, so there is no end to the need for the Marine focus on providing global, 9-1-1 crisis response.
Inexplicably, about six years ago, senior Marine leaders abruptly changed the focus of the Marine Corps from global 9-1-1 crisis response to something much different.The Marine Corps began to put its focus on placing a string of Marine sensor and missile units off China’s coast. These small, lightly armed units would act as sensor nodes in the joint kill chain. Senior Marine leaders relentlessly began to use a whole new vocabulary: Force Design, Marine Littoral Regiments, Stand in Forces, sensor nodes, and more.
It was not only a change in focus and a change in vocabulary, combined arms units, equipment, and capabilities were reduced or eliminated. Sudden, severe reductions were made to Marine air, armor, infantry, logistics, engineers, snipers, and more. The changes rocked Marine Corps capabilities and rocked Marines.
The entertainment company, Netflix, is now showing a 4 hour documentary, “Marines.” Netflix says, “This captivating military documentary series follows the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit as they conduct high-stakes combat exercises in the Pacific.” The documentary, which is well produced and fascinating to watch. focuses mainly on the junior Marines of the 31st MEU. One of the Marine units covered is the 31st MEU’s sniper platoon, a hard charging team of Marines.
At the start of episode three, the cameras following the Marine snipers record their reaction as the motivated Marines receive some disappointing news. The Marine Corps is shutting down the Sniper School and disbanding the sniper program. The Marine snipers are shocked that the Marine Corps no longer wants school trained snipers. The Marine Corps no longer needs their skills, no longer needs them.
The 31st MEU, forward deployed in the Pacific, is one of the Marine 9-1-1 crisis response forces that the US depends on around the world. While the 31st MEU is only deployed a few months a year, when it is deployed, it is a powerful combined arms force able to arrive off a troubled shore to deter, assist, strike, or fight.
Why would senior Marine leaders take away snipers from the 31st MEU and from the Marine Corps? How does taking away snipers make global 9-1-1 crisis response stronger?
The end of school trained snipers is only one example of cuts to Marine Corps capabilities. There are many more.
Starting six years ago, the Marine Corps planned to disband three Marine Regiments and change them into smaller, more specialized Marine Littoral Regiments. Two Marine Regiments have already been disbanded and transformed into the smaller littoral regiments. Crucial combined arms capabilities have been lost. The 4th Marine Regiment has been scheduled to be the third regiment disbanded.
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That includes putting on hold plans to stand up a third Marine Littoral Regiment, the service’s new shallow-water unit concept, which had been planned for Guam, a spokesman told Defense One on Tuesday.
“We’ve decided, given what we have right now in the Pacific, we’re going to keep 4th Marine Regiment a traditional Marine regiment, and not transition it to an MLR,” said Lt. Col. Eric Flanagan, holding the count at 3rd MLR in Hawaii and 12th MLR in Japan.
-- Defense One
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In the past, the Marine Corps was always working to upgrade, enhance, and modernize its global 9-1-1 crisis response capabilities. But the changes over the last half-dozen years raise the question, does the Marine Corps even want to make the Marine global 9-1-1 crisis response stronger? Or does the Marine see the future as focused on littoral regiments, Stand in Forces, and Marine sensor and missile units off the coast of China?
In so many ways, large and small the answer seemed to be clear, the Marine Corps was going to turn its back on global 9-1-1 crisis response, and focus on the island missile units off China.
Now, however, the Marine Corps Commandant, writing in National Defense Magazine’s special review, “The Navy and Marine Corps at 250” has a much different answer. The Commandant says, “Marines to Remain the Nation’s 911 Force.”
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Marines to Remain the Nation’s 911 Force
Gen. Eric Smith, Marine Corps Commandant
• Although the character of war is changing and technologies, weapons systems and tactics will continue to evolve, our individual Marine’s grit, discipline and resolve remain our decisive advantage. As a warfighting organization, we will continue to adapt, modernize and drive change to meet future threats and win on future battlefields.
Yet amid this change, what endures is the nature of war itself. War is — and will always be — a violent clash of wills, and it is in this unchanging reality that our Marine ethos is rooted.
Our core values, relentless discipline and will to fight form the bridge between Marines of the past, present and future. They are the foundation that ensures we remain first to fight for the nation.
As Marines, we remain the nation’s 911 force. We remain true to the traditions we were founded upon as a naval expeditionary force. Partnered with the Navy, we remain forward, ready to respond to any crisis or conflict and, if necessary, take the fight to the enemy. However advanced the battlefield becomes, it will always be the Marine — standing tall and fighting on his own two feet — who secures victory. ND
-- Gen. Eric Smith, Marine Corps Commandant
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This is the Commandant’s “Look to the Future”?
How can this be?
If this is the future of the Marine Corps -- and not just a few words on the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps -- then this is great news.
Across two Commandants and six long, destructive years, however, the entire community of Marines and friends of the Corps -- not to mention Congress -- have been regaled with confident promises that the future of the Marine Corps was all about brand new terms like: Force Design, Marine Littoral Regiments, Stand-in-Forces, missile units off the coast of China, and sensor nodes in joint kill chains.
Now, when the Commandant writes in National Defense Magazine about the Marine Corps future, he does not even mention Force Design or any of its related vocabulary. He talks only about global 9-1-1 crisis response.
Just one year ago, the current Commandant’s Planning Guidance made it clear that, “Force Design remains a righteous journey” and “Force Design remains our strategic priority and we cannot slow down.”
Again and again it was argued 9-1-1 crisis response was one thing and modernization was another. Instead of focusing on modernizing 9-1-1 crisis response, the Marine Corps’ focus became modernizing by trying to put in place a string of sensor and missile units off the coast of China.
If 4th Marines is not going to be disbanded and turned into a Marine Littoral Regiment, that is a good decision. The capabilities of a littoral regiment, if needed, could have been added to the 4th Marines. There was never a need to disband 4th Marines or any other Marine Regiment. But if the decision to disband 4th Marines and turn it into a littoral regiment is going to be reversed, perhaps the decision to disband the renown Scout Sniper school and all the Marine Corps scout snipers can be reversed as well? Perhaps the decision to strip so much Marine tubed artillery from the three active duty divisions could be reversed as well?
Instead of making decisions too often abruptly and haphazardly, it would be better if the Marine Corps had a way to build the Marine Corps of the future according to a plan, a well thought out and tested roadmap that began with a scenario, then a concept, then a look at capabilities and gaps, and then a review of all the options to fill gaps.
If only there was a thorough, professional process for building the Marine Corps of the future. Good news. The Marine Corps has a combat development process, or, at least, at one time there was a comprehensive Marine Corps command that was responsible for building the Marine Corps of the future, the Marine Corps Combat Development Command at Quantico.
Compass Points salutes the Commandant’s remarks about the future in National Defense Magazine. If the Commandant looks to the future and now sees global 9-1-1 crisis response, that is good news. Now it is time to restore, upgrade, and enhance the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, so MCCDC can restore, upgrade, and enhance what the Nation needs, a global, 9-1-1 crisis response Corps of Marines.
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National Defense Magazine - 11/10/2025
The Navy and Marine Corps at 250
A Look to the Future as the Sea Services Celebrate Their Quarter Millennial Anniversary
By Stew Magnuson
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2025/11/10/the-navy-and-marine-corps-at-250
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Netflix
MARINES
20254 Episodes - TV-MA - Documentary
This captivating military documentary series follows the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit as they conduct high-stakes combat exercises in the Pacific.
www.netflix.com/title/81750378
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Defense One - 10/29/2025
Marine Corps axes plan for third littoral regiment, ready to move on medium landing ship
By Meghann Myers
In a recent comment on Compass Points, I applauded the 39th Commandant for making significant changes to Force Design to get the Marine Corps back on track. I also pointed out that despite these changes, much more needs to be done. The best place to start should be obvious: kill the Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR); the current concept for small, isolated and widely separated Stand-in Forces (SIFs); the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS)/Naval Strike Missile (NSM); and the Landing Ship Medium (LSM).
The purpose-built MLR and ineffective NMESIS/NSM are neither relevant today nor in the future. The NSM is ill-suited for attacking ships from fixed positions ashore given its slow speed and short range. Isolated and widely separated SIFs and 14-knot, lightly armed, and unprotected LSMs are not survivable in contested waters. Were none of the NMESIS/NSM and LSM tactical limitations bad enough, the programmatics should be a coup de grace for both programs. Consider the following:
1. According to the FD 2025 update: “The Service fielded the first six NMESIS launchers to 3rd MLR in 2023 and continues to build capacity toward 18 launchers per medium-range missile system launcher (MMSL) battery, which will be full realized in FY 33.” Note: not said is when the 12th MLR will receive its full complement of launchers.
2. The fielding schedule for the first nine LSM/LSV type vessels that Congress authorized for “testing and experimentation” is well into the future. The lead ship is not expected to be delivered until 2029 or later. At best, these ships will compete with traditional amphibs for funding and manning. At worst, they will count against the 31amphibious ship requirement.
The Marines have a lethal, supportable, and sustainable solution to these ill-conceived programs - - task organize for any mission from the Corps’ traditional toolkit of capabilities, augmented with new and better equipment as appropriate. Consider the following:
The U.S. Army recently conducted a live-fire test of the precision strike missile (PrSM), increment 2 in Australia. See https://www.foxnews.com/politics/next-gen-missile-shows-off-first-pacific-test-us-expands-long-range-arsenal. This version of the ballistic PrSM has an unclassified range of 300 miles and can hit moving targets on land or at sea. Future increments are expected to increase the range to 600 miles. The missile was fired from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) vehicle owned by the Australian Defense Force. The Marine Corps has seven batteries of HIMARS in the active force and three batteries in the Reserves. Each battery consists of six missile launchers, for a total of 60 launchers.
And the Marines have other anti-ship options in their toolkit that are better than the ground launched subsonic, 115-mile range Naval Strike Missile (NSM).
One option is the Joint Strike Missile (JSM), which is the air-launched joint version of the NSM. The JSM can be carried in the F-35C’s internal weapons bay, which allows the aircraft to maintain its stealth capabilities. Capable of attacking both land and sea targets, the JSM has an unclassified range of 200 miles. When coupled with the combat range of the F-35C (600 miles), targets can be struck at distances approximating 800 miles. The Marines have six squadrons of F-35Cs in the active force and 2 squadrons in the reserve force. Each squadron has a Primary Aircraft Authorization of 12 aircraft, for a total of 96 aircraft. The JSM can also be carried externally by the F-35B, which degrades some of the aircraft’s stealth capabilities. The combat range of the F-35B is 450 miles, which is 150 miles less than the F-35C. The Marines have twelve squadrons of F-35Bs in the active force, with a PAA of12 aircraft per squadron, for a total of 144 aircraft.
Another anti-ship option available to the Marines is the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (AGM-158 LRASM). The LRASM is designed to strike targets at significantly greater range than other older air-delivered anti-ship missiles. The exact range is classified, although the US Navy states the range is “greater than 200 nautical miles.” The LRASM can be carried by both the F-35C and F-35B but externally on both aircraft. See https://www.19fortyfive.com/2025/03/the-f-35-fighter-can-now-sink-your-battleship/
Clearly, the Marine Corps has better options than the purpose-built MLR, small and isolated SIFs, and the subsonic, short-range NSM. There is no need to continue down the current path of a largely purpose-built, regional defense force that is neither survivable nor sustainable inside hotly contested areas. The Marines already have the HIMARS and F-35s and can task-organize for an anti-ship mission if necessary. The same case can be made for a “sense and make sense” mission.
And if the Marines need a SIF, task-organize it to be a combined arms MEB or MEF size force, supported by traditional amphibious ships and MPF.
It's not too late for the senior leaders to change course and do the right thing for the Marine Corps, the combatant commanders, and the Nation. Simply stated, reorganize III MEF into a traditional division, wing, and CSS structure; divest the MLR and NMESIS/NSM; replace the LSM with traditional amphibious ships; and task organize for missions from a robust and resilient toolkit of MEF capabilities.
TANSTAAFL (There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch). The famous acronym used by legendary economist Milton Friedman reminds us that everything has a price, even if it is deferred or hidden. Much like the Fram Oil Filter commercial of old – you can pay me now, or you can pay me later!