Defeating Future Threats Requires an Intermediate Marine Air Ground Task Force
Abstract
The future security environment will be plagued by powerful irregular adversaries that threaten regional stability by challenging weak governments. That nature of combat against these threats will likely be in restrictive physical and/or human terrain. This environment requires robust ground forces to be effective. "Expeditionary Force 21" risks overemphasizing MEBs and potential crisis response missions. MEBs are response and flexible but are limited against the irregular threats seen gaining strength in troubled regions. Too much focus on crisis response threatens to diminish the skills gained by Marine divisions fighting advanced irregular adversaries. Minimizing these threats will guarantee the Marine Corps' response is ad hoc and disorganized. To prevent this, the Marine Corps should consider emerging threats, look to its history, and rely on its flexible nature to consider a MAGTF larger than a MEB and smaller than a Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF). A ground-centric Intermediate MAGTF (IMAGTF) will be ideally suited to defeat the powerful irregular threats developing in vital regions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 02, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1178803
Entities
People
- Matthew A Van Echo
Organizations
- Marine Corps University