The Marine Corps Civil Military Operations (CMO) Capability: Inadequate for Current and Future Irregular Environments

Abstract

The Marine Corps' CMO capabilities do not adequately address current irregular warfare environments and need to be enhanced in order to meet the MAGTF commander's requirements in operating in future irregular environments. In recent years, irregular threats have influenced how the Marine Corps trains, organizes, and equips its forces. In light of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has become clear that the Marine Corps has capability gaps in countering irregular threats. One such capability gap is CMO. In order to meet future irregular challenges, the Marine Corps must enhance its CMO capabilities across doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities (DOTMLPF). While the civil affairs community needs to be bolstered, it is not the sole issue. Commanders are responsible for CMO within their respective battlespace and must be given the appropriate level of support in order to effectively operate in support of governance lines of effort. This support includes each component of the DOTMLPF spectrum. The Marine Corps currently relies on intuitive commanders to effectively employ civil affairs units and conduct CMO in irregular environments. Combat operations will always be the Marine Corps' specialty however, if the Marine Corps is to be successful in future wars, "conventional" or "irregular", it must enhance its ability to conduct CMO across the range of military operations. The Marine Corps' Civil Affairs community possesses a limited cadre of subject matter experts and requires more structure in order to assist commanders in employing such capabilities. Until the civil affairs military occupational specialty (MOS) becomes a primary MOS and permanent force structure is built into the maneuver battalion and logistics combat element tables of organization, an institutionalized capability and mindset will not be achieved.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 02, 2011
Accession Number
ADA603452

Entities

People

  • Thomas M. Warren

Organizations

  • Marine Corps University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Active Duty
  • Civil Affairs
  • Combat Operations
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Governments
  • Humanitarian Assistance
  • Military History
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.
  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.