Compass Points – New CMC CPG

Wading into the Guidance

Compass Points – New CMC CPG

Wading into the Guidance

September 10, 2024

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It has become a tradition for each new Marine Corps Commandant to issue his Commandant’s Planning Guidance (CPG). The 38th Commandant issued his CPG in August of 2019 and now the current Commandant, General Eric Smith, has issued his CPG. The 39th Commandant's CPG of August 2024 follows the current Commandant's earlier guidance, FRAGO 01-2024. The CPG is an opportunity for the Commandant to take a broad look at the Marine Corps highlighting issues, challenges, and opportunities.

Nearly at the beginning of the new CPG, the Commandant sets a clear expectation that the CPG is to be read and discussed throughout the Marine Corps, "I expect all Marines to read this Planning Guidance and leaders to discuss its key concepts with their Marines." 

It is good to hear the Commandant wants robust discussion about the CPG. In fact, not only does the Commandant call for discussion at the beginning of the CPG, when he reaches the conclusion, he once again calls for robust CPG feedback:  "Sergeant Major Ruiz and I look forward to hearing your feedback, and we expect and need your bottom-up refinements to this top-down guidance."

Marines are not shy and already Marines on active duty and veteran Marines are wading into the CPG page by page. Compass Points has begun receiving detailed, insightful, and often pointed CPG comments and analysis. If the Commandant and the Sergeant Major "look forward to hearing your feedback" they should subscribe to Compass Points and benefit from the wisdom and experience of Compass Points readers.

The CPG is divided into 25 sections from INTENT to CONCLUSION. While the CPG does not have a contents page, if it did it might look like the contents list below, with numbering, page numbers, and the first sentence of each section added.

To assist the Commandant in gaining the robust discussion about the CPG that he seeks, in forthcoming posts Compass Points will print a variety of reader comments that provide a detailed review of each section of the CPG. Compass Points has already received some detailed and pointed comments about the CPG’s first section, INTENT and those comments and analysis will be posted tomorrow.

Readers are encouraged to read the CPG and provide comments on one or more of the 25 sections. The Commandant has asked for feedback and no group is more qualified to give feedback than Compass Points readers.

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39th  Commandant’s Planning Guidance

August 2024

1. INTENT - p 1

-- Marines, after a year serving as your Commandant and visiting with Marines in every corner of our Corps, I remain confident that we are on the right track as a Service.

2. DISCIPLINE AND CORE VALUES - p 2

-- Ironclad discipline is the currency of our Corps. Ruthless adherence to standards is what makes us special as a Service.

3. OUR LEGACY - p 3

-- Marines – we are different, plain and simple. We are all links in a chain that stretches back to 1775.

4. CURRENT ENVIRONMENT - p 4

-- The 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS) prioritizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the pacing challenge, and the Marine Corps will continue to modernize to meet it.

5. THE CHANGING CHARACTER OF WAR - p 7

-- The Marine Corps has an obligation to adapt to, harness, and even drive the changing character of war.

6. FISCAL ENVIRONMENT - p 7

-- The character of war is changing in parallel with significant constraints and restraints on our ability to drive modernization at speed.

7. OUR FORCE - p 8

-- No platform, operating concept, or strategy is as important to the Service as the individual Marine.

8. QUALITY OF LIFE - p 8

-- While we owe it to our Marines to instill in them the discipline and core values that will lead to their success on the battlefield, we also owe them and their families the quality of life necessary to keep them coming back for another tour.

9. RECRUITING AND RETENTION - p  9

-- No single issue is more existential for our Corps than recruiting and retaining high-quality Marines.

10. WARFIGHTING - p 10

-- The Marine Corps fights as a Marine Air Ground Task Force, bringing balanced air-ground, all-domain combined arms formations under one commander to create single-battle effects.

11. MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCES - pp 10 - 11

-- Our Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEFs) are both our primary force generators and warfighting headquarters.

-- I MEF remains our globally deployable MEF, focused on major contingency operations in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) Area of Operations (AOR).

-- II MEF will be the Marine Corps’ crisis response force-in-readiness, able to quickly task organize battalion and regimental-sized forces under a MAGTF construct.

-- III MEF will remain our main effort MEF as we campaign to deter the PRC.

12. STAND-IN FORCES (SIF) - p 11

-- The Marine Corps concept for SIF is an operating concept, not a particular unit or capability.

13. MARINE COMPONENTS - p 12

-- As the Marine Corps continues to invest in increasing the lethality and capabilities of our MAGTFs, in a joint warfighting context, we must ensure appropriate linkages to the Combatant Commanders who possess the authorities to employ these forces.

14. MARINE FORCES RESERVE - p 12

-- While not organized as a traditional MEF, Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES) is a critical force provider in a manner no different from the standing MEFs.

15. MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNITS (MEUS) – 3.0 REQUIREMENT - p 12

-- The Amphibious Ready Group / Marine Expeditionary Unit (ARG/MEU) is the premier force offering of our Corps, and I will make all necessary investments to keep it that way.

16. MEU MODERNIZATION - p 12

-- The ARG/MEU is a proven formation with a track record of providing our Nation with a host of capabilities across the competition continuum.

17. BALANCING MODERNIZATION WITH CURRENT OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS - p 15

-- The natural tension between modernization and current operational requirements necessitate tough decisions and require that we accept some risk in Global Force Management force offerings.

18. ALLIES AND PARTNERS - p 15

-- Our Allies and Partners are identified as our greatest source of strategic advantage in the NDS.

19. NAVAL INTEGRATION AND ORGANIC MOBILITY - p 15

-- From actions required to set the theater prior to large-scale combat, to projecting power and sustaining forces ashore, the ARG/MEU will continue to serve as a critical component of our system of warfighting long into the future.

20. LITTORAL MANEUVER - p 16

-- An organic shore-to-shore surface connector capability is critical to supporting the mobility and sustainment of MLRs and the SIF.

21. MARITIME PREPOSITIONING - p 16

-- In times of crisis or conflict, our adversaries will use every domain and all means available to disrupt and contest the mobilization and flow of logistics from the continental United States to the contested theater.

22. SEA DENIAL, SEA LINES OF COMMUNICATION (SLOCS), AND C2 - p 16

-- Force Design put us on a path not only to increase the lethality of the Marine Corps, but to provide more robust capabilities to the Navy and Joint Force.

23. BLUE IN SUPPORT OF GREEN – PERSONNEL - p 16

-- Navy medical and religious services personnel are invaluable contributors to our success at home and abroad.

24. CRITICAL CAPABILITIES AND FUTURE INVESTMENTS - p 19

-- We will aggressively experiment with prototype platforms in real-world operations.

25. CONCLUSION - p 20

-- Marines, we have come a long way, but our adversaries are working just as hard to gain the advantage over us.

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Compass Points is glad that the Commandant concludes the CPG by saying: "Sergeant Major Ruiz and I look forward to hearing your feedback, and we expect and need your bottom-up refinements to this top-down guidance." Compass Points appreciates all readers wading into the CPG and providing feedback. Over the next several weeks Compass Points will collate reader comments and analysis of the CPG so the Commandant will receive the robust discussion and feedback he is seeking.

Coming tomorrow: comments and analysis of Section 1 - INTENT.

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Marines

39th Commandant's Planning Guidance

https://www.cmc.marines.mil/CPG/