FD 2030 - What is at the Heart of FD 2030?
Most New Military Theories, Strategies, and Concepts are Soon Forgotten
What is at the heart of FD 2030? Anything at all? When you get to the irreducible core of FD 2030 is there any there, there? Compass Points has received feedback about the Compass Points post, FD 2030 - Flawed From the Start.
In that post, Lt General Van Riper discusses his experiences with Millennium Challenge 02, which was designed to test what were, back then, the very latest military theories, strategies, and concepts. All those words from long ago, "Revolution in Military Affairs" and "Military Transformation" and "Effects Based Operations" have virtually disappeared today. Once, they were the future of military thinking. Now, they are gone.
Most shiny new military theories, strategies, and concepts disappear without a trace. Shiny and popular one day. Gone and forgotten the next.
Only a few, withstand the test of time. For example, among his many, and ongoing contributions to the Marine Corps, General Charles Krulak, the 31st Commandant, created a vision of modern warfare called, the Three Block War. In the Three Block War, there are different types and levels of crisis happening block by block inside the same city. Marines find themselves feeding starving citizens in one block while fighting snipers in the next block. For the Three Block War, it takes young, wise Marine leaders, that General Krulak called, Strategic Corporals, who have the character, education, and leadership to navigate the moral challenges they face moving from block to block to block.
As Dr. Franklin Annis has written for the Modern War Institute (link below), over the years, General Krulak's Three Block War and Strategic Corporal models have too often been distorted, misused, and misunderstood. And yet, through it all, Three Block War and the Strategic Corporal have never faded away. They are too powerful and too useful. Third world civil and military disasters are all too real. Marines need a framework to understand what they are about to face. The Three Block War provides a powerful example of what they will face, and the Strategic Corporal provides an example of who they must become.
There is another reason Three Block War and Strategic Corporal still resonant within the Marine Corps. Every Marine recruit at the end of bootcamp must undergo and overcome the capstone event of recruit training: "Crucible." The Crucible, another innovation by General Krulak, is a 54 hour event where soon-to-be Marines, with little food or sleep, must face one challenge after another. The Crucible, in some ways, is a condensed version of the Three Block War. What does it take for a young recruit to survive the Crucible? It takes character, education, and leadership, all the parts of the Strategic Corporal.
Most shiny new military theories, strategies, and concepts never last. Popular for awhile and then, gone. The Three Block War and Strategic Corporal, despite the years, still survive, because they equip Marines with a way to understand what they will face and give them a example of who they must become. At their core, General Krulak's models still make Marines stronger.
What is at the heart of FD 2030? Anything at all? When you get to the irreducible core of FD 2030 is there any there, there? If not, FD 2030 will eventually join all those other, once shiny and new, military theories, strategies, and concepts, once so popular, but then, just gone.
Modern War Institute (mwi.usma.edu) 02/03/20
Krulak Revisited: The Three-Block War, Strategic Corporals, and the Future Battlefield
By Dr. Franklin Annis
In the 1990s, Commandant of the US Marine Corps Gen. Charles C. Krulak advanced the idea of what he called a “three-block war” to explain battlefield realities in an era of failed and failing nation-states. Not only was the Marine Corps operating in complex environments and executing a range of missions—including humanitarian aid and peacekeeping, alongside mid-intensity conflict—it was also operating in an atmosphere of pervasive media coverage. With the rise of the internet and cheap video equipment, the actions—or mis-actions—of Marines could spread quickly around the world. Krulak perceived the need to invest heavily in the human dimension of warfare. This was done to ensure that even the lowest-level Marine leaders were fully developed and prepared to operate effectively to contribute to the achievement of strategic objectives in this environment of ever-increasing scrutiny.
Dr. Franklin C. Annis is a National Guard officer and veteran of the Iraq War. He holds a doctorate in education in curriculum and teaching from Northcentral University. Dr. Annis hosts the Evolving Warfighter YouTube channel where he shares his research on military self-development.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the United States Military Academy, Department of the Army, or Department of Defense.
https://mwi.usma.edu/krulak-revisited-three-block-war-strategic-corporals-future-battlefield/
I don't know how to start something so I'll just jump in here and ask a question. Since OCS we've been inculcated with the need for situational awareness. Are the bad guys three ridge lines away or are they in the wire? Makes a difference. So where is the USMC with this wholesale reduction of our combat capability? I see a lot of talk and great ideas about why it's a very bad idea but it feels like an echo chamber. I have no standing or influence but it appears to me that people who do have it, need to turn on the heat. In other words, maybe we should be firing the FPF. Rome is burning and we're fiddling. I'd love to be completely out of touch and wrong. 0302