Compass Points - Speak Up!
Bold Leaders Speak Up
Compass Points - Speak Up!
Bold Leaders Speak Up
June 17, 2025
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In the field, after every exercise and operation, Marines have traditionally been taught to engage in a robust hot wash-up, an immediate, frank review of what went right and what can be improved. One of the rules of a hot wash-up is all Marines who see an issue must speak up. No hiding behind silence.
Too often in garrison, however, the frank and robust hot wash-up can get replaced with calculations about career advancement.
What should officers and enlisted leaders do when the Marine Corps is heading in the wrong direction?
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1. Keep quiet. Accept things as they are?
2. Speak up. Try to make the Marine Corps stronger?
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Keeping quiet is the smart move. Do not rock the boat. Do not risk your career. Go along to get along.
Speaking up is always a risk. Whenever a junior Marine leader suggests, 'we can do things better' that Marine is saying the Marine Corps right now is not doing things as well as they should be done. Whenever a junior Marine leader speaks up and suggests to more senior leaders that there is a flaw in the plan, that we need a course correction, their suggestion can enrage some brittle, small minded senior leaders, who view any suggestion as a betrayal, an insult, and an act of disloyalty.
Keep quiet or speak up?
Two Marine leaders have decided to speak up.
The CO and XO of 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Lt. Col. John J. Dick and Lt. Col. Daniel D. Phillips have boldly jumped into the issue of armor and the Marine Corps, with their article, in Task and Purpose, "Why the Marine Corps should adopt the M10 Booker."
Does the Marine Corps need armor or not? Force Design removed all armor from the Marine Corps. Lt. Col. Dick and Lt. Col. Phillips build a strong case for more armor, specifically for the M10 Booker.
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The Marine Corps launched Force Design to modernize the force for great power competition, aiming to replace outdated systems with precision fires, unmanned platforms, and advanced digital networks. Although the vision is clear, execution has not kept pace. The Corps has shown a genuine commitment to innovation, but it continues to face challenges in fielding new capabilities at the scale and speed the evolving threat environment demands.
This gap is most evident in the Light Armored Reconnaissance community’s transition to the Mobile Reconnaissance Battalion. Though doctrinally justified, the doctrinal shift has outpaced materiel solutions.
. . . The Marine Corps’ 2020 tank divestment was driven by strategic priorities, but evolving conditions warrant reconsideration. Fielding armor like the M10 Booker would restore direct-fire support and align the Corps with broader modernization efforts and the operational divide between mobility, survivability, and lethality. As the European Council on Foreign Relations notes, tanks remain relevant when integrated into contemporary warfare systems.
-- Task and Purpose - "Why the Marine Corps should adopt the M10 Booker"
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The authors even take time to emphasize that the M10 Booker should not be acquired by the Marine Corps based solely based on their own idea, or anyone's idea, but only after a thorough review by the Marine Corps combat development process at Quantico.
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. . . the Marine Corps has not completed a key, comprehensive review for the Mobile Reconnaissance Battalion concept, known as the DOTMLPEFP review, for Doctrine, Organization, Training, Material, Leadership & Education, Personnel, and Faculties-Policy validation.
-- Task and Purpose - "Why the Marine Corps should adopt the M10 Booker"
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The authors make clear that without armor, the Marine Corps is not equipped for a fight with a peer competitor.
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The M10 Booker directly addresses the Corps’ current capability gap in survivable, mobile firepower. Its armor, fire control systems, and mobility allow Light Armored Reconnaissance units to survive first contact, dominate key terrain, and provide reconnaissance-in-force capabilities aligned with expeditionary advanced base operations and stand-in force concepts. Unlike legacy Light Armored Vehicle platforms, which prioritized mobility over protection, the Booker delivers both lethality and survivability, enabling reconnaissance marines to maneuver under fire, mass effects, and conduct shaping operations forward of the main force.
Much as the light armored vehicles revolutionized mobile reconnaissance during the Cold War, the M10 Booker can redefine it for the peer fight. If the Marine Corps intends to project power as a credible stand-in force, it must equip its reconnaissance units to see the enemy and close with and destroy him when required. Just as the Light Armored vehicle transformed mobile reconnaissance in the late 20th century, the M10 can define its future. If the Marine Corps is to maintain credibility as a Stand-In force in contested maritime theaters, it must ensure its reconnaissance elements are not just eyes and ears but teeth.
-- Task and Purpose - "Why the Marine Corps should adopt the M10 Booker"
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It is time for a hot wash-up about armor in the Marine Corps.
What should officers and enlisted leaders do when the Marine Corps is heading in the wrong direction?
1. Keep quiet. Accept things as they are?
2. Speak up. Try to make the Marine Corps stronger?
The CO and XO of 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion have decided to speak up.
Is the M10 Booker the armor solution the Marine Corps desperately needs today? Lt. Col. John J. Dick, and Lt. Col. Daniel D. Phillips make a very persuasive case. Even more importantly, these Marines have decided to speak up to help make the Marine Corps better. Compass Points salutes Lt. Col. John J. Dick, and Lt. Col. Daniel D. Phillips. In a time of self-censorship and silence, it take courage to speak up. Congrats!
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Task and Purpose - 06/16/2025
Why the Marine Corps should adopt the M10 Booker
The Army cancelled the M10 Booker. As the leaders of the Marine Corps' 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, we believe the Army's loss could be the Marine Corps' gain.
By Lt. Col. John J. Dick, USMC and Lt. Col. Daniel D. Phillips, USMC
Lt. Col. John J. Dick is the commanding officer of 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion of the 1st Marine Division.
Lt. Col. Dan Phillips is the executive officer of the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion of the 1st Marine Division.
https://taskandpurpose.com/opinion/why-marine-corps-m10-booker/?mc_cid=75bf9d1b79&mc_eid=6f40c781cd
I know there are many of you out there who read Compass Points but feel it unwise to comment. I understand. Just know that this ongoing “discussion” about the future of our Corps is healthy and more robust than it may appear. If nothing else, keep talking amongst yourselves. Don’t ever let anyone judge you for your opinion. It’s YOUR Corps.
At one time, the Marine Corps had a concepts based approach to requirements determination. Once a concept was developed and validated, MCCDC was able to determine the needed capabilities and requirements. The process worked well if fully integrated and disciplined. Things get off track when concepts and requirements developed and validated outside the combat development process. You want proof? Look at Force Design, SIF, Divest to Invest, Naval Strike Missile, etc.