As described by the Deputy Commandant for Installations and Logistics, recent strategic objectives within the National Defense Strategy (NDS) resulted in sweeping changes in the way the military will prosecute warfare in the coming decades. The NDS provides clear direction on how the DOD intends to curtail our diminishing military overmatch and deal with the rise of “revisionist powers.” It expands the battlespace to include rear area and noncombat operations, incorporating them into four layers of steady-state competition with our adversaries. In doing so, the NDS highlights the shortcomings of the current force and the need for significant and rapid modernization, which is reflected in Secretary James N. Mattis’ direction to “foster a culture of experimentation and calculated risktaking.”

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The city of Troy, as depicted in Homer’s Iliad, is the archetype fortress— a stronghold buffered against the threat of man and nature, resilient in the face of all manner of assault, capable of generating and sustaining the full combat power of the Trojan army. In Homer’s epic, the Trojan War lasted for a decade, in large part because of the city’s ability to counter repeated assaults while withstanding siege.  Whether the Trojan War is legend or history, it is an illustrative tale of the value of a resilient citadel.

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