GyBill
10-27-2010, 18:05
Commandant spells out priorities for Corps
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Oct 27, 2010 20:07:25 EDT
Gen. Jim Amos issued his first major communiqué as commandant Wednesday, a sweeping set of tasks that target areas of the institution for improvement, consolidation and efficiency, and direct an increase in personal and professional development opportunities for individual Marines.
The 20-page document, titled “Commandant’s Planning Guidance,” spells out more than 20 directives and sets due dates for completion within the next six months, some as early as December. Amos, who took command of the Corps less than a week ago, wants his two- and three-star commands to address specific issues according to four overarching priorities, chief among which are ongoing operations in Afghanistan where more than 20,000 Marines are currently deployed.
On that front, Amos has tapped senior Marine leaders to produce a strategy for boosting unit cohesion and adding Marines to undermanned career fields whose specialties are in high demand down range.
He also wants to see more “resiliency training” to help Marines cope with stress, and a plan to “challenge prevailing notions” by embedding “red cells” at each Marine expeditionary force and each deploying Marine expeditionary brigade.
In his second priority, Amos calls on commanders to “aggressively experiment and implement new capabilities and organizations” as they continue to examine the Corps’ structure and posture it for the future. There are mandates to lighten the force, implement an equipment oversight board and increase the Corps’ cyber warfare capabilities.
Improvements to training and education account for Amos’ third priority, which is aimed at preparing Marines to “succeed in distributed operations and increasingly complex environments.” Amos wants greater focus on individual Marines’ personal, professional and tactical development, and has called for more educational opportunities for enlisted Marines and officers, and the further development of Marine Corps University into a “world class institution.” He also emphasizes the institutionalization of values-based training throughout the Corps, from boot camp to pre-deployment training exercises like Enhanced Mojave Viper.
In his fourth priority area, Amos addresses the need to review diversity within the ranks and ensure that minority Marines are being recruited and that the careers and mentorship of those individuals is taking place. He calls for the evaluation of current re-enlistment policies and seeks recommendations for the standardization of re-enlistment procedures.
In an opening letter and narrative at the front of the document, Amos reaches out to Marines, sailors and their families by reaffirming the Corps’ identity, laying out the challenges presented by the current operating environment and offering his vision on “the way forward” that spells out his four main priorities.
“The Marine Corps,” Amos writes, ”is America’s Expeditionary Force in Readiness — a balanced air-ground-logistics team. We are forward-deployed and forward-engaged: shaping, training, deterring, and responding to all manner of crises and contingencies. We create options and decision space for our nation’s leaders. Alert and ready, we respond to today’s crisis, with today’s force … TODAY. ... We operate throughout the spectrum of threats — irregular, hybrid, conventional — or the shady areas where they overlap. Marines are ready to respond whenever the nation calls.”
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Oct 27, 2010 20:07:25 EDT
Gen. Jim Amos issued his first major communiqué as commandant Wednesday, a sweeping set of tasks that target areas of the institution for improvement, consolidation and efficiency, and direct an increase in personal and professional development opportunities for individual Marines.
The 20-page document, titled “Commandant’s Planning Guidance,” spells out more than 20 directives and sets due dates for completion within the next six months, some as early as December. Amos, who took command of the Corps less than a week ago, wants his two- and three-star commands to address specific issues according to four overarching priorities, chief among which are ongoing operations in Afghanistan where more than 20,000 Marines are currently deployed.
On that front, Amos has tapped senior Marine leaders to produce a strategy for boosting unit cohesion and adding Marines to undermanned career fields whose specialties are in high demand down range.
He also wants to see more “resiliency training” to help Marines cope with stress, and a plan to “challenge prevailing notions” by embedding “red cells” at each Marine expeditionary force and each deploying Marine expeditionary brigade.
In his second priority, Amos calls on commanders to “aggressively experiment and implement new capabilities and organizations” as they continue to examine the Corps’ structure and posture it for the future. There are mandates to lighten the force, implement an equipment oversight board and increase the Corps’ cyber warfare capabilities.
Improvements to training and education account for Amos’ third priority, which is aimed at preparing Marines to “succeed in distributed operations and increasingly complex environments.” Amos wants greater focus on individual Marines’ personal, professional and tactical development, and has called for more educational opportunities for enlisted Marines and officers, and the further development of Marine Corps University into a “world class institution.” He also emphasizes the institutionalization of values-based training throughout the Corps, from boot camp to pre-deployment training exercises like Enhanced Mojave Viper.
In his fourth priority area, Amos addresses the need to review diversity within the ranks and ensure that minority Marines are being recruited and that the careers and mentorship of those individuals is taking place. He calls for the evaluation of current re-enlistment policies and seeks recommendations for the standardization of re-enlistment procedures.
In an opening letter and narrative at the front of the document, Amos reaches out to Marines, sailors and their families by reaffirming the Corps’ identity, laying out the challenges presented by the current operating environment and offering his vision on “the way forward” that spells out his four main priorities.
“The Marine Corps,” Amos writes, ”is America’s Expeditionary Force in Readiness — a balanced air-ground-logistics team. We are forward-deployed and forward-engaged: shaping, training, deterring, and responding to all manner of crises and contingencies. We create options and decision space for our nation’s leaders. Alert and ready, we respond to today’s crisis, with today’s force … TODAY. ... We operate throughout the spectrum of threats — irregular, hybrid, conventional — or the shady areas where they overlap. Marines are ready to respond whenever the nation calls.”