Chase Essay Contest - Marine Corps Association

Talent: We Do Not Need It

2024 Chase Prize Essay Contest Winner: First Place Eleven challenges to Talent Management 2030 As stated in Talent Management 2030 (TM2030), “Our modern operational concepts and organizations cannot reach their

The Eminently Qualified Marine

2024 Chase Prize Essay Contest Winner: Second Place A satire of and recommendation for the Marine Corps Fitness Report “A collection of talented individuals without personal discipline will ultimately and

Why I Hate Sun Tzu

2024 Chase Prize Essay Contest Winner: Honorable Mention Reevaluating a supposedly foundational text I hate Sun Tzu. There, I said it. Go on, make your judgments, roll your eyes, and

The Road to Hell

Training management skills versus policy

The goal of the PTP was not to reduce the role of the battalion commander in training his unit, but this has been the unintended outcome. Proper supervision should take the form of the senior commander and members of the staff visiting the subordinate unit, often unannounced, to see what is going

Warfighting: A leap of faith

This author believes that by adopting maneuver theory Marines have rejected not only combined arms warfare but also the lessons of the past.

In adopting the maneuver theory of warfare, the USMC is turning its back on combined arms warfare and the lessons of its own history. Current Marine warfighting strategy is discussed.

Revise FMFM 1, Warfighting

As FMFM 1 was written prior to Joint Pub 1 and " . . . From the Sea," has it become outdated?

To fulfill a mission responsibly, evidence of military judgment must be made tangible. Estimates are the means a priori to show the results of judgments, and a number of techniques have been developed to prove and improve estimates and resulting plans. We all can agree that comparison of objective

Dysfunctional Doctrine: The Marine Corps and FMFM 1, Warfighting

This author also believes that Marine doctrine as outlined in FMFM 1 is inadequate and needs to be revised.

If it is to maintain its battlefield edge into the next century, the Corps needs something it currently does not have. It needs a pragmatic warfighting doctrine-a doctrine written by a group of Marines of diverse operational backgrounds in close consultation with the operating forces and

The Theory of Maneuver in USMC Doctrine and Force Structure

1992 Chase Prize Essay Contest Honorable Mention

In the premaneuver Marine Corps, combat experience provided the institutional lens through which warfare requirements were evaluated, justified, and codified into doctrine and force structure. Today, the Corps has formally adopted the theory of maneuver. In contrast to our past, maneuver theory

Employing the Defense in Maneuver Warfare

Tactics

A full 22 centuries ago, Hannibal engaged in a military campaign in Italy lasting 15 years. Fighting both the weather and the Gauls, Hannibal crossed the Pyrenees and the Alps in 218 B.C., arriving virtually undetected in the Po Valley of northern Italy. There he engaged and defeated every Roman

Recon-Pull

A Marriage of 2s and 3s

The fog of war, present as always in combat, seems to have overcome the 1st Marines' ability to exploit the gap in the North Korean defenses. As the 1st Marines closed on Yongdungpo their momentum slowed. While the North Koreans sought to regroup and launched hasty counterattacks, [Lewis B. Puller]

Marine Air

Look to the battlefield then practice it in peace

The question then becomes what will Marine aviation have to do on this battlefield that is different from what they are doing today? First, Marine aviation must learn to think and act differently. Aviators must look past the cockpit. Aviators must not only know how to fly their aircraft tactically