Research Guides: Marine Corps War College (MCWAR): Force Design

Force Design

"The National Defense Strategy has directed us to focus in new areas, and this requires us to think, innovate, and change... This CPG outlines my five priority focus areas: force design, warfighting, education and training, core values, and command and leadership... We must communicate with precision and consistency, based on a common focus and a unified message... The Marine Corps will be trained and equipped as a naval expeditionary force-in-readiness and prepared to operate inside actively contested maritime spaces in support of fleet operations. In crisis prevention and crisis response, the Fleet Marine Force – acting as an extension of the Fleet – will be first on the scene, first to help, first to contain a brewing crisis, and first to fight if required to do so.

~ Excerpts from Commandant's Planning Guidance (2019)

Marine Corps Force Design and Annual Updates
Overview of Marine Corps Force Design. Contains links to current Force Design topics and related documents.
Installation and Logistics
Current update (PDF format) available via link on landing page.
Talent Management
Current update (PDF format) available via link on landing page.
Training and Education
Current update (PDF format) available via link on landing page.

Force Design Selected Resources

Guidance to the Force (August 2023)
White Letter 1-23 from: Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, To: All Marines.
Commandant's Planning Guidance: 38th Commandant of the Marine Corps (July 2019)
"The Commandant’s Planning Guidance (CPG) provides the 38th Commandant’s strategic direction for the Marine Corps and mirrors the function of the Secretary of Defense’s Defense Planning Guidance (DPG). It serves as the authoritative document for Service-level planning and provides a common direction to the Marine Corps Total Force. It also serves as a road map describing where the Marine Corps is going and why; what the
Marine Corps force development priorities are and are not; and, in some instances, how and when prescribed actions will be implemented. This CPG serves as my Commandant’s Intent for the next four years." (General David H. Berger, 38th Commandant of the Marine Corps)
A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower (2015)
A Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority Version 2.0 (December 2018)
"The current security environment demands that the Navy be prepared at all levels for decentralized operations, guided by commander’s intent. This operating style is reliant on clear understanding up, down, and across the chain of command. It is also underpinned by trust and confidence created by demonstrating character and competence." (p. 7)
Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) Handbook Considerations for Force Development and Employment (1 June 2018)
"EABO is a future naval operational concept that meets the resiliency and forward presence requirements of the next paradigm of US Joint expeditionary operations. The concept is adversary-based, cost-informed, and advantage- focused. The EABO concept is designed to defeat adversary attempts to execute counter intervention and fait accompli strategies that might otherwise inhibit a credible US response to aggression against treaty allies and economic partners." (p. 5)
Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment (2017)
"The purpose of this concept is to describe “naval operations in the littoral environment in light of emerging threats” in order to provide a unified framework for Navy-Marine Corps innovation. It places a renewed emphasis on fighting for and gaining sea control, to include employing sea-based and land-based Marine Corps capabilities to support the sea control fight." (p. 3)
Tentative Manual for Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations, 2nd Edition (May 2023)
From the Forward, "This second edition of TM EABO includes updated information and captures lessons from war games, exercises, experiments, and other analysis to describe how naval forces will conduct EABO across the competition continuum."

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