Compass Points - Free!
A better way forward
Compass Points - Free!
A better way forward
April 22, 2024
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Both FMFM-1 Warfighting and MCDP-1 Warfighting are examples of how small books can have a large impact. It does not take an 700 page volume or a multi-volume set to spark a broad and deep discussion. Over the next year, Compass Points will publish a series of small "discussion starter" books, each roughly the size and length of the Warfighting volumes. The Compass Points publications will be published as actual, physical books that can be held in the hand, underlined, notated, and shared over and over.
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To kick-off the series of forthcoming publications, Compass Points presents Vision 2035. Vision 2035 is a compilation of much of the best thinking on a better way forward for the Marine Corps. In one brief volume, Vision 2035 discusses the defects of the Force Design detour, and offers an outline of where the Marine Corps should go from here. The paperback version of Vision 2035 is not available yet and would likely be listed for the special Marine Corps price of $17.75. But the full volume of Vision 2035 is available for download now in PDF form -- see link below -- at the price of FREE.
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Vision 2035 begins with an Introduction by Generals Krulak and Zinni.
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VISION 2035
Introduction
A Marine Corps Able to Respond Globally in the Age of Precision Munitions
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Force Design 2030 is an unproven concept originally focused on the certainty of a known threat in a specific location. The concept is defensive, based on the unverified assumption that the proliferation of precision munitions and advanced sensors have changed the character of war, rendering the defense decisively dominant over the offense.
To acquire the innovations needed for this new concept, the Marine Corps divested organizations and equipment needed today to self-fund future, largely experimental capabilities that will not be fully fielded in sufficient quantities until 2030 or beyond. As a result, the Marine Corps is no longer able to respond quickly and effectively to current and future threats worldwide. Global response has been replaced by a narrowly focused one-dimensional, largely regional future force known as Stand-in Forces. These small teams are envisioned to be widely distributed and essentially isolated among the First Island Chain of the Western Pacific. The mission of the Stand-in Forces is to acquire and sink Chinese warships with mid- to long-range missiles.
Force Design 2030 wrongly assumes that this redesigned and reconfigured force has global utility across the spectrum of conflict. It does not. Without armor, adequate cannon artillery, equipment to breach obstacles and minefields, bridging to cross gaps and streams, and sufficient aircraft the Marine Corps is not able to operate effectively in support of most regional war plans.
A group of senior, retired Marines has argued that Force Design 2030 poses significant risks to national security. This group, loosely known as Chowder Society II, has advocated for a Marine Corps that can respond quickly and effectively to global crises and contingencies across the spectrum of conflict.
Chief among Chowder Society II’s concerns is the unwise strategy of “divest to invest.” Other concerns are Force Design 2030’s almost exclusive focus on a single threat, in a known location and the Marine Corps’ failure to use a rigorous combat development process to test and validate the concept.
We believe the Marine Corps should be focused instead on the uncertainties of global threats, which requires the ability to conduct offensive operations.
Our vision reduces risk to national security. By leveraging innovation, technology and the Combat Development Process, the Marine Corps can regain its offensive capabilities, which will enable Marine forces to respond quickly and effectively anywhere in the world.
History informs us that wars are more quickly terminated when one side or the other maneuvers to achieve decisive results. Defensive operations are an invitation to a stalemate.
Chowder Society II’s vision reduces risk to our national security by restoring global response. One of the lessons from the Cold War was that the focus on the Soviet Union did not reduce the number of lesser threats. A belligerent Iran, a recalcitrant North Korea, and other hostile players will continue to threaten our national security. The Nation requires a Marine Corps capable of responding to a wide array of global threats quickly and decisively.
Chowder Society II’s vision for the Marine Corps is a distinct alternative to Force Design 2030. A Nation without the capability to respond rapidly and globally to emerging threats risks wider wars, not only with peer competitors but with a host of other state and non-state actors.
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Charles C. Krulak Anthony C. Zinni
General, US Marine Corps (ret) General, US Marine Corps (ret)
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In four brief sections, Vision 2035 reviews what has been lost and what needs to be fixed now.
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VISION 2035
Contents
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Introduction: Global Response ........ 9
I. Chowder Society II: A New Vision ... 13
II. Concerns with Force Design 2030 …. 17
III. The Restoration of Maneuver .......... 29
IV. A Better Way: Vision 2035 ………... 41
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Vision 2035 concludes:
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Unlike Force Design 2030, Vision 2035 is a roadmap for a better way forward. It provides the conceptual foundation for the development of supporting concepts and the identification and fielding of specific capabilities the Marine Corps requires to meet its Title X and Goldwater-Nichols responsibilities, congressional intent, and the global challenges of the 21st Century. It restores infantry and combined arms as the central components of Marine Corps operations. It ensures the Marine Corps remains ready, relevant, and capable of responding to the crises and contingency requirements of all combatant commanders, not just some.
Good concepts (those that are inclusively vetted, objectively war-gamed, and fairly tested) are the sure catalysts for combat developments. Thirty years ago, the Marine Corps adopted a forward-looking vision, Operational Maneuver from the Sea (OMFTS), that soon identified, among other far reaching capabilities, the requirements for tilt-rotor aircraft, over the horizon assault landing craft, and long range precision fires. It was also the stimulant for our doctrine of Maneuver Warfare.
Vision 2035 is no less forward-looking than was OMFTS in its time. Vision 2035 is not a look backwards. It will provide the Marine Corps Combat Development Process the grist necessary to identify and develop the capabilities (organizations and force structure, equipment, doctrine, logistics, and sustainment) needed to restore maneuver and respond quickly and effectively to worldwide crises and contingencies. Vision 2035 will ensure the Marine Corps remains the Nation’s 9-1-1 force.
--Vision 2035
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World events have shown that precision munitions do not make amphibious operations impossible. Instead, global, combined arms, crisis response is more valuable than ever. Compass Points salutes the authors of Vision 2035 for their powerful outline of a better way forward for the Marine Corps and encourages readers to download Vision 2035, share it widely, and help steer the Marine Corps toward a stronger future.
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The Chowder Society II
Vision 2035
A Better Way Forward for the U.S. Marine Corps
https://mega.nz/file/crxlUJoC#G-Wh2nlQllKnIXUuCvCdolmQEWg_fk4_Jv6KQuRe3us
Vision 2035 was originally scheduled to run in the Marine Corps Gazette as Part IV of a series of articles. Part I of the series (Preface or Introduction) was posted to the Gazette’s online edition on 29 November 2022, to be followed by Parts II (Concerns), III (Problem Solving), and IV (Vision 2035) on consecutive days. The editor had approved the articles for publication. They were formatted and ready to go. On the day Part II was to be published, the editor made the decision to cease publishing the remaining articles. During December 2022, Parts II, III, and IV were published in The National Interest on consecutive days.
The purpose of Parts II, III, and IV (often referred to as the “trilogy”) was to begin a transparent and inclusive discussion and debate inside the Marine Corps family for developing an operating concept that balances global response with modernization. This approach was not dissimilar from the discussions in the Gazette, Quantico schoolhouses, and other venues that led to the adoption of maneuver warfare as Marine Corps doctrine. But this time around, discussion and debate were essentially muted when the Gazette declined to publish the “trilogy” and the schoolhouses chose to ignore it.
Note: If rebalancing the MAGTF sounds familiar, it’s because one of the Commandant’s main priorities is to “balance global response with modernization.” General Smith should be applauded for making this decision.
To be clear, Vision 2035 is not an operating concept; rather, it provides an intellectual foundation upon which an operating concept can be built. That concept could then be vetted through the Marine Corps Combat Development Process to determine requirements that best balance global response with modernization.
Had this approach been followed five years ago, the Marine Corps would not have been hollowed out to chase the flavor of the month contingency.
I immediately went through the MEGA App process…..do not be fooled there is a Free option to download the books…the app steers you to a paid option bottom R …free. I downloaded and read the document. Hand salute to General Krulak and General Zinni and all that are saving Our Corps from Destruction! Let’s get real…..WAR IS GLOBAL IT IS HAPPENING NOW AND OUR CORPS IS NOT READY.