Reframing Marine Corps Distributed Operations and Enhanced Company Operations
Abstract
The Marine Corps should expect to fight within a strategic context of complex irregular warfare (CIW) for the near- to mid-term while retaining the ability to fight a major combat operation (MCO). As a result, the Distributed Operations (DO)-Enhanced Company Operations (ECO) concepts of fighting in the Contemporary Operating Environment (COE) should provide a doctrine that retains full-spectrum capability not only for MCOs. however unlikely, but more importantly to support the mid- to high-intensity combat (MIC-HIC)-like brutality of CIW. Currently, neither the ECO concept nor the Marine Corps' vision of DO is progressing towards a full-spectrum capability and is more focused on the current operating environment in Afghanistan. The initial framing of the DO-ECO program lacked a holistic approach because the initial development of the concept was constrained by a counterinsurgency and Security Cooperation Marine Air-Ground Task Force (SC MAGTF) approach. As a result of this limited vision, as well as an experimental methodology and cognitive approach that began at the squad level, the overarching architecture that provides intelligence, fire support, and logistics functions to ECO-units will likely be flawed. DO-ECO needs to reach beyond the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory's description which currently focuses on improving the capabilities of the infantry squad leader and platoon commander to reduce the limiting factors on the rifle company commander. DO-ECO should be a visionary doctrine for the future operating environment and yet capable of supporting potential MCOs and CIW. The Marine Corps can retain its conservative and methodical evolutionary process for ECO--unlike the Army's Future Combat System's leap into future technology that in some cases does not exist--while simultaneously creating a full-spectrum vision of DO. Prior to properly establishin
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 21, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA513698
Entities
People
- Blair J. Sokol
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College