Compass Points - Humpty Dumpty
Putting combat development back together
Compass Points - Humpty Dumpty
Putting combat development back together
May 14, 2025
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Mr. Dumpty & Combat Development
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put combat development together again.
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Marine Lt. Gen Eric E. Austin took command of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command less than one year ago. He also became the Deputy Commandant for Combat Development and Integration.
MCCDC / CD&I is responsible for building the Marine Corps of the future.
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MCCDC was created Nov. 10, 1987 with a central role in developing concepts, plans, doctrine, training and equipment for the 21st Century. In 1995, MCCDC became home to MCWL with a mission to conduct experimentation in 21st century warfare. In 2005, the commanding general for MCCDC was dual hatted as the deputy commandant for CD&I, with MCWL and the Capabilities Development Directorate aligned under CD&I. Today, CD&I leads Marine Corps force development in collaboration with numerous stakeholders across Headquarters, Marine Corps, the Fleet Marine Force and the supporting establishment.
-- DIVIDS, MCCDC
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MCCDC was established as home for comprehensive combat development including concept development and education. Beginning in 1987, the foundational doctrine, concepts and publications that under-gird the modern crisis response Marine Corps were put in place.
FMFM-1 Warfighting and all the related publications on warfighting transformed not only the Marine Corps, but military forces around the world. Even today, the MCCDC model of putting concept development and education under one combat development commanding general is still influencing other military services.
For example, the US Army just announced it will reorganize its own combat development in a way that follows the Marine Corps model.
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The U.S. Army will consolidate its Futures Command with its Training and Doctrine Command under a new command called the Army’s Transformation and Training Command, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said during a House Appropriations defense subcommittee posture hearing Wednesday.
The naming comes a week after the service announced sweeping changes to its command structure and formations, with the intention to transform the force while scrapping programs that don’t meet current threats or its vision of overmatching those threats in the future.
-- Defense News
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The Marine Corps combat development process is complex but no more complex than it needs to be to create the future force. A simplified version of the Marine Corps combat development process involves 8 steps. These 8 steps are not strictly sequential but instead are iterative cycles, repeated again and again, as a new solution is developed.
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1. Concept Creation.
The future Marine Corps begins with a concept, a picture, a scenario of future conflict.
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2. Capability Comparison.
Current Marine capabilities are compared to capabilities needed in the future.
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3. Gap Analysis.
Capability gaps are identified that need filled so the future force will be ready for future conflict.
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4. DOTMLPFP Review.
DOTMLPFP is an acronym for doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership & education, personnel, facilities, and policy. In other words, a capability gap that needs to be filled might be filled, not by a piece of gear, but by a new school, new training, new facilities, or new policy.
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5. Testing & Experimentation.
Possible DOTMLPFP solutions must undergo rigorous testing and experimentation.
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6. Integration.
Integrate and coordinate within the Marine Corps and with joint and combined partners.
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7. Requirements.
Define requirements for acquisition.
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8. Programming.
Support the Planning, Programming, Budget, and Execution (PPBE) process.
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Together, the eight steps build the future Marine Corps. It all begins with a concept.
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Marine Corps concepts propose new and innovative approaches for addressing current or future gaps, shortfalls, or challenges for which existing methods or capabilities are ineffective, insufficient, or nonexistent.
-- MCO 5401.1 Concept Generation
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It is unfortunate, however, that just as the Army admits the wisdom of the Marine Corps' comprehensive combat development, where concept development and education reside under one commanding general, the Marine Corps itself has abandoned comprehensive combat development. The Marine Corps Combat Development Command has been fractured. Concepts and education are no longer side by side under one commander. The Marine Corps has broken off education from combat development. Training and education are no longer part of combat development command but are a separate command under their own 3 star general.
All this separation has done is fragment the successful comprehensive combat development process and create a new three start billet. The Department of Defense today is stalking unnecessary 4 star and 3 star billets. The Marine Corps has unnecessarily created another 3 star billet.
LtGen Austin, the Commanding General of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, needs to think about putting combat development back together again.
While humpty dumpty may never be put back together again, concept development and education can be put back together. Does comprehensive combat development matter? Yes it does. Nearly five years ago, Marine Corps leaders largely ignored and by-passed the proven, comprehensive combat development process. The result was a rash and hasty hijacking of the focus of the Marine Corps from worldwide crisis response to regional missile units on islands off the coast of China. It was not the Marine Corps Combat Development Command at Quantico that drove the Marine Corps to destroy or degrade so many combined arms units, equipment, and capabilities including armor, artillery, air, infantry, engineering, snipers, and more.
Comprehensive combat development in the Marine Corps has had a great fall. The result has been a misguided mess of a missile plan that threatens to change the Marine Corps from an offensive force to a defensive force, from a global force to a regional force, and from a flexible combined arms force to narrow island missile units.
Compass Points salutes all the Marines and friends of the Corps working united to put back together both comprehensive combat development and the global combined arms Marine Corps.
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DIVIDS Hub - 08/09/2024
Lt. Gen. Karsten S. Heckl transfers command to Lt. Gen Eric E. Austin during MCCDC Change of Command
By Cathleen Close
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Defense News - 05/08/2025
Army names newly combined futures and training command
By Jen Judson
https://www.defensenews.com/land/2025/05/08/army-names-newly-combined-futures-and-training-command/
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Marines, I commanded both organizations. I was fortunate enough to be Director of T and E from 1994 to 1996 and CG MCCDC. So I have seen and commanded both organizations. When I was T&E it was not a command, that change occurred in 2000 and in my view unnecessary (it added overhead without changing tasks or functions) The change to 3 star command I believe happened with the thought that the CMC is given 3 tasks by US code: "Organize, Train and Equip." therefore, training should get higher emphasis. It too was unnecessary. Then, the entire combat development process was ignored to further develop/implement a pet, ill-conceived concept, FD 2030. PITY. We had it right, not now.
Barry "Knute" Knutson
The separation of training, education, and doctrine from the Marine Combat Development Command was a travesty of the worst kind. Only two leaders who had no understanding of the power of this organization could have made such a grievous error. Of course, they were the same two generals who dreamed up and supported Force Design 2030: not the sharpest officers to ever wear the Marine Corps uniform. I was privileged to command MCCDC when it reached full maturity after the extensive work of Generals Eynyre, Boomer, Krulak, Steele, and Wilhelm to build and fine tune what General Gray had envisioned. The first act of the next Commandant must be to reform MCCDC. And as Compass Points observes, he will save a three-star billet in the process and likely reduce staff.