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Concepts shape tomorrow's battlefield

Marine Corps News

Story Identification #: 2004101492430
Story by Cpl. J. Agg

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va (Oct. 12, 2004) -- When diplomacy fails and nations resort to armed conflict to reconcile their disputes, the result is a clashing of wills, a simultaneous effort by two powers to force the capitulation of the other through the application of extreme violence. And whether the conflict is waged by massive armies across many theaters, or executed by a rapidly deployed, covert force in a single operation, the fundamental nature of warfare remains constant. But ironically, the most certain attribute of warfare is uncertainty. The fog of war pervades all aspects of warfighting, lending to disorder and chaos.

It has always been the endeavor of great military minds to capitalize on the opportunities that arise in the confusion of war, which are often revealed by pure chance alone. Throughout human history, great innovations in the profession of arms have forever changed the way battles are fought and won. So frequently have these advances occurred that the practice of modern warfighting may truly be called an evolving artform.

From Napoleon Bonaparte’s advanced system of logistics, to the German Army’s development of Blitzkrieg in World War I, to the amphibious warfighting capabilities of the U.S. Marines, innovative concepts that have withstood the crucible of conflict to become tried and true military doctrine have driven the evolution of modern warfare forward, often granting combatants decisive advantages over their adversaries.

The Napoleonic system of logistics, marked by the professionalization of French supply services, the standardization of weapons and organizations, the practice of forward deploying supply points and increasing the army’s self reliance by living off the land, drastically simplified the execution of the French Empire’s military campaigns. This is a classic example of a functional concept, or the performance of a military field of specialization, such as logistics, command and control techniques and maritime prepositioning. Examples of future functional concepts- “future” meaning still under development and not yet doctrine- include ship-to-objective maneuver and sea-based logistics, both of which support the Marine Corps’ operational concept Operational Maneuver from the Sea.

The operating concept is of a higher order than the functional concept as it describes in broader terms how military forces operate. As a rule, an operating concept is developed either as a proposed solution to a new military problem or as a new solution to an existing military problem.

The German Blitzkrieg, or “The Lightning War”, was an operating concept developed as a solution to the trench warfare of World War I, which was incredibly costly for both Allied and Axis powers in terms of both human casualties and time. Blitzkrieg first appeared in the form of elite infantry units known as “Sturmtruppen”, or Stormtroops, designed to rapidly overrun enemy positions using momentum and speed. Later, Blitzkrieg evolved into modern mobile warfare. Heavily armored tanks supported by infantry, motorized infantry, artillery and air power, would rapidly drive through enemy lines to capture strategic enemy positions or to encircle the enemy. Blitzkrieg accounted for most of Germany’s military victories from 1939 to 1942, and has since been employed widely from George Patton’s European campaign in 1944, to Israel’s various conflicts with its Arab neighbors, to American military action in both Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

While still in its infancy, the Marine Corps launched the first amphibious assault to successfully seize Fort Nassau in the Bahamas from the British in 1776. In the 1930’s amphibious warfare would be proposed as an operating concept as a solution to the growing threat of a military confrontation in a Pacific campaign with Japan. New technologies were developed to enable an amphibious campaign of seizing Japanese occupied islands and converting them into American bases of operations. They included new landing craft and the first amphibious tractor, the predecessor of today’s Amphibious Assault Vehicle.

As the Marine motto “improvise, adapt and overcome” suggests, Marines recognize the need for flexibility in battle space, and continue their legacy of innovative military concept development.

Marines have sought to drive the frontier of military science forward and remain ahead of our enemy’s capabilities with the development of innovative warfighting concepts and doctrine.

In a series of upcoming articles, the Quantico Sentry will explore a number of current and future concepts and enabling technologies now under development at the Concepts Branch of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command Expeditionary Force Development Center. Topics of focus will be the major concepts that comprise the framework for Marine Corps Concept 21, the Corps’ capstone concept that will guide the evolution of the Marine Corps into the preeminent fighting force of the 21st Century.

The first scheduled article will center on Distributed Operations, a future concept that redefines maneuver warfare for battalion to squad-sized combat units.