Compass Points – Interview – USMC Education
USMC Education - Right Track or Wrong Track?
Compass Points – Interview – USMC Education
USMC Education - Right Track or Wrong Track?
September 15, 2023
Is Marine Corps education on the right track?
Education is part of the Marine Corps Combat Development process. The future of the Marine Corps is developed at Quantico under the direction of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC). See the Compass Points post at the link below that outlines the Marine Combat Development process. The Marine Corps Combat Development process uses the acronym DOTMLPF to get a comprehensive overview of development. One part of DOTMLPF is "L" for Leadership and Education.
Compass Points interviews the first President of the Marine Corps University. Lt. Gen. Paul K. Van Riper. General Van Riper has a distinguished career in war and peace. In retirement, he has remained a Marine authority on education and combat development. To challenge the Marine Corps' education expert, Compass Points sought out unexpected questions from readers with little background in Marine Corps education.
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Interview with Lt Gen Paul K. Van Riper
First President, Marine Corps University
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CP – General Van Riper, why does the Marine Corps need a university at Quantico?
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PKVR –
When he was our 29th Commandant, General Al Gray saw the need to bring the schools at Quantico under one organization that would be able to share limited resources, ensure curricula supported the intellectual advancement of students, oversee enlargement and professional development of faculty, and plan for new modern facilities like a library and research center. Thus, he established Marine Corps University.
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CP – Marine Corps University was founded in 1989. That means the Marine Corps got along fine without it for over 200 years.
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PKVR --
Over those 200 years the Marine Corps continually improved training and education. It moved from mainly on-the-job-training or OJT with individual schooling of leaders, to unit schools, and then to formal courses at various posts and stations. Along the way, the development of manual and mental skills was identified as training where cognitive development was seen as education. There is not a clear delineation between the two but there is a general recognition of the difference. Both were increasingly formalized over time. Establishment of Marine Corps University was just one more step in the improvement of professional military education.
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CP – How much education is really needed? A senior Marine tells a junior Marine the mission and the junior Marine gets it done. Simple.
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PKVR --
Marines need to think of professional education as a career long activity; like camouflaging it is continuous. Sometimes the education occurs in schools while at other times it is done in unit PME sessions. Beyond these, there is the obligation of every Marine to study and learn on his or her own. It is incumbent upon every Marine to have his or her own plan for professional development aided by formal courses of instruction. The Marine Corps Professional Reading Program is meant to assist this self-education.
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CP – Why all this study of history? Past wars are gone. We have new weapons today.
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PKVR --
In militaries around the world, history has long been considered “the school of the soldier.” The study of history provides indirect experiences in warfighting. Marines are not in combat every day, so Marines must study to acquire vicarious experience. Moreover, while it teaches no lessons per se, military history does provide context to all aspects of military operations—maneuver, fire, information, logistics, command, intelligence, and so forth. Neither does history repeat itself in a literal sense but as Mark Twain noted,
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
This means there are general patterns that are common to all operations. Real and vicarious experience better enables us to recognize the patterns of war.
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CP – In combat, Marines should just go where the action is and hit the bad guys hard. Simple.
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PKVR --
This is a shortsighted view of warfare. The profession of arms is one that requires considerable intellect. The leaders who can outthink an enemy are far more likely to outfight that enemy. This understanding is a key element of maneuver warfare.
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CP – Why read all those books? There is an ancient Chinese book everyone says is so great. Do we really need to read old Chinese books today?
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PKVR --
I could easily list a dozen reasons Marines should read books and journals, but first let me say reading entails more than looking at words on a page. A good student engages with the author in an intellectual discourse. By this I mean he or she does not simply accept what that author has written but reflects on the author’s thoughts and ideas even questioning whether they are correct. I encourage Marines to own as many of the books they read as possible so they can highlight passages and write in the margins. I frequently find myself questioning the author in my marginal notes. Not only does this habit allow one to be a reflective practitioner, but it also creates a resource to come back to when the topic arises at some point in the future so you can see how your reading unfolded and what was and remains important. I consider books as an extension of my mind. In this regard I often say I don’t know very much but I know where to find much in my books.
As to reasons to read Sun Tzu’s Art of War, there are several, however, it helps to have a mentor guide your initial reading and study. Today a reader might turn to former Marine, Scott McDonald’s recent Marine Corps Times article, “How to Read ‘Art of War’ the Way Its Author intended.”
I urge Marines to read the classic to appreciate war’s complexity and the challenges of designing operations. Also of note are the Chinese strategist’s thoughts on how to discern a military situation, that is, to gain situational awareness.
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CP -- But what about new books and new theories?
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PKVR --
Yes, Marines should read widely. The study of military history is a critical starting point, but it is not the end point. One of America’s most important military theorists, John Boyd, was a devoted student of Sun Tzu. Boyd was well read and often told leaders to “Cast your net widely.” This, of course, means to widen your knowledge base and to deepen your understanding of how the world works in general. From its beginning, the MCU explored the new sciences of complexity, chaos theory, and others. See Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink, chapter four – which discusses the advanced work being done at MCU. We study the past to give us leverage to understand new and emerging sciences, concepts, and technologies and use them for future warfighting. Continual study and deep understanding mean we are never stuck in the past, we are always advancing into new, uncharted territory. The MCU began and should remain on the leading edge of new thinking. To remain on the leading edge, MCU must always start by being firmly grounded in military history.
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CP – Why should Marines sit in classrooms? Marines should be out in the field practicing how to win on the battlefield.
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PKVR --
If an instructor allows Marines to simply sit in a classroom he or she has failed to teach. Teaching requires interaction between the instructor and the students. Though there are times when students need to listen and absorb what an instructor is saying, classrooms generally need to be alive with activity much of the time. I am delighted when I see a student jump up and go to a whiteboard and lay out visually what he or she is thinking or to illustrate a point. I’m even more pleased when the instructor adds to or corrects the student’s mental model. The “tell, show, practice” approach is good when the emphasis is on practice. But practice need not occur only in the field or on ranges, it can occur in a classroom with such methods as design exercises, tactical or operational decision games, and war games. Well-constructed exams are also a form of practice.
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CP -- When the MCU was founded in 1989, it was part of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC). Should education be a part of MCCDC today?
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PKVR --
Let me go back further in Marine Corps history to explain the reason I believe MCU, and other elements need to be an inherent part of MCCDC. The story is actually one of continual improvement with the merging and in some case enlarging of organizations. Over the years, it has become more widely recognized that as important as education is on its own, it is even more important as a part of Marine Corps combat development.
As a captain in the early 1970s I was an action officer for 30 months at Headquarters Marine Corps in what was then known as G-3 Training. This was several years before the Marine Corps changed from its HQMC G-staff organization to its current departmental organization. Education was a separate function at Quantico in what was then the Marine Corps Development and Education Command (MCDEC).
Realizing the importance and logic of connecting these two related functions, the Marine Corps in the 1980s created the Marine Air-Ground Training and Education Center at Quantico (MAGTEC). This was a key step in advancing the schooling of Marines. I was the Director of this Center in 1990 and 1991, so I saw its usefulness up close. Later, in another key step, MAGTEC under the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC) became the Training and Education Command. This headquarters oversaw a Training Command and an Education Command, the latter dual-hatted with the Marine Corps University.
This organization enabled the Commanding General of MCCDC to integrate all facets of training and education with the development of doctrine, changes to organizational structure, training, identification of material (weapons and equipment) requirements, leader development, personnel requirements, and facility requirements. You will recognize this as DOTMLPF.
Again, having served as the CG MCCDC from 1995 to 1997 I can attest to the logic and power of this approach to combat development. To build the future Marine Corps, we need to have all of combat development under one command and that includes education. The one sure way to ensure actions in one element of DOTMLPF are coordinated with the others is to place responsibility for all the elements with a single commander and supporting staff.
I have been disappointed over the years to see a robust combat development command slowly torn apart as elements of DOTMLPF were stripped away and sent elsewhere. These divestitures began in the late 1990s when elements of manpower and joint doctrine were taken back to HQMC and reached a zenith a few years ago with the separation of Training and Education into a command separate from MCCDC. This progressive decentralization has been painful to witness as it undermines the concept-based foundation of the combat development process.
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CP -- How important are the faculty at MCU?
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PKVR --
I was privileged to serve on a study group chartered by General James Mattis in 2006 to examine professional military education when he was the Commanding General of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command. The study was led by retired General Charles Wilhelm. Very early on, the members of the study group concluded that there were four key elements to any educational institution: faculty, curricula, students, and facilities. We further determined their importance was as I have listed them. A first-class faculty can overcome deficiencies in the other three elements, but the reverse is not true. A well thought out curriculum cannot overcome a poor faculty nor can a class of top-notch students, nor the most modern of educational facilities. At the conclusion of the study, we made recommendations for enhancements in all four elements, but to be effective, they all hinged on a first-class faculty.
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CP -- When you became first President of the MCU, you had a substantial combat record as shown by two Silver Stars, a Bronze star, and a Purple Heart. Is it better for the Marine Corps if the MCU President is more of a warfighter than an administrator?
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PKVR –
I believe General Al Gray selected me to be the first president of MCU largely because of my operational experience. By 1988 I had served as an operations officer, executive officer, and commanding officer of an infantry battalion and infantry regiment. I had also been a division operations officer and division chief of staff and served as a colonel in a MEF G-3. And as you note, I had seen combat in the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, and Lebanon.
Not surprisingly then, I am firmly convinced that all of the Marine Corps’ professional military education colleges and schools need to be led by operators, ideally with considerable combat experience. The essence of being a Marine is the willingness to “go to the sound of the guns,” thus those who oversee the development of the Corps' future leaders need to have the experience that only comes from command of operational units.
If they are well versed in military history, this is a desirable bonus. And if they happen to have training as educators this is a double bonus. But neither of these attributes should be at the expense of operational experience. To be clear, I am not lessening the need for instruction and experience in vital functions such as intelligence, logistics, communications, and so forth. What I am saying is that always at the center of operations will be fire and maneuver and this is what the Corps must emphasize.
Speaking of MCU, I have been troubled over the past 25 years to see the Corps sometimes “park” generals as President Marine Corps University as they await future assignments. The President of MCU and senior instructors and staff are billets that demand highly qualified officers who have a strong desire to lead and teach, and the experience to do so.
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CP -- You have served Corps and Country nearly seven decades, from your perspective today how is the Marine Corps University performing? How about the Marine Corps?
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PKVR –
General Gray designed Marine Corps University to focus on warfighting – not national security and not international relations – warfighting. The means students must study battles, wars, and experts on war. I held a teaching chair for 11 years at MCU up until 2017. Over that time, and even before, I observed a steady drifting away from the essence of warfighting. In the years since its founding, subjects not directly related to warfighting have grown like weeds. It reached the point that some curricula appeared closer to one on national security or even international relations than warfighting. To illustrate, what was once a weeklong study of Karl von Clausewitz and his masterful work, On War, was reduced to only a few brief hours.
My major disappointment with MCU today is that some who offer dissenting views on war and warfare are precluded from speaking with students there. As an example, I was told I did not have the “expertise” to speak at this institution I spent years serving. Unfortunately, I am not the only combat veteran who is in effect persona non grata. A sad commentary on an institution that from its first days invited open discourse and debate.
As I survey the Marine Corps today, I am also disappointed and distressed to see the Corps I retired from in 1997 becoming less operationally capable than it was 26 years ago. My observation was that until 2019 the Corps became a better fighting organization with each new generation of Marines. The losses the Corps has recently endured will take upwards of 20 years to recover from. At 85 I am likely to go to my grave recognizing the Corps is not as powerful as the one I knew and served in for 41 years. It has been an honor for me to stand with so many outstanding Marines. Our Nation deserves the best and Marines are the best. I believe that now and in the future Marines will remain the same spirited and skilled warriors they have always been.
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Compass Points thanks General Van Riper for taking time to discuss Marine Corps education. Compass Points salutes him for his nearly seven decades of service to Country and Corps.
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Compass Points - Building the Future
The power of the combat development process
August 19, 2023
https://marinecorpscompasspoints.substack.com/p/compass-points-building-the-future
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Marine Corps University
Lt. Gen. Paul K. Van Riper
"A first-class faculty can overcome deficiencies in the other three elements, but the reverse is not true." - true in combat and true in the schoolhouse. One of the few successes we found advising an Iraqi Infantry unit was when we focused on building their internal training, starting with identifying potential instructors from among the officers, NCOs, and jundi. Concurrently, we worked with the staff to develop a sense of professional guidance and support for the developing instructor cadre (despite all the excuses for why this wouldn't work). This COA reinforced (and created a feedback loop) with the fast combat operational pace the Battalion was already pursuing. They saw the value and took ownership. It was good while it lasted. I offer this vignette as example of the same old lesson that we do well not to consistently forget (and need graybeards like LtGen Ripper to remind us). LtCol "Automation" and Major "ChatGPT" isn't going to get us out of a Training & Education mess, anymore than ADP fixes problems with a corporation's core product or service.
PKVR excels at all he has done and what he does now Challenge the premise as we do in science. Any scientist that cannot take questions or criticism on his suppositions fails as a scientist. The MCU asks attendees to think, question and find better ways of doing things.