Tactics and Operations

In our first video episode, our host Major Josh White discusses Chinese Systems Destruction doctrine and how the Marine Corps can counter it with Chief Warrant Office 3 Frank Chisowski.

In this episode, we discuss what is often argued to be the greatest predictor of success on the battlefield - adaptability. We discuss LTG Harold "Hal" Moore (Ret), and his actions at and leading up to the Battle of Ia Drang as well as how to train our units to be adaptable.

In this episode we discuss MCTOGs most frequent course, the Unit Training Course (UTC), formerly known as Prep for Combat (P4C) and Unit Readiness Planning Course (URPC). We talk about the evolution of the course from it's inception to present day and how it is improving combat effectiveness in units across the MAGTF. This weeks guests are Master Sergent Austin Morgan, Course Chief; GySgt Sean...

In this episode we discuss the Network Engagement Course offered by MCTOG. We cover the origin of the concept, its evolution and its applicability to 21st Century conflict and Maneuver Warfare.

In this episode we discuss what it means to be intentional in the design of training for the GCE. We discuss the difficulties of training both technical and adaptive skills informed by experiences and observed trends from units training at MWX

Concluding our series on urban operations, we talk to BG Robert Wooldridge of 40th Infantry Division California National Guard about his push to create an Urban Warfare Training Center and why conducting urban operations above the brigade level deserves its own dedicated training effort.

In our first semi-annual MAGTF Warfighting Exercise postgame show, we discuss what went down during MWX 2-23 and what we can learn from it.

In part 3 of our series on urban warfare, we discuss urban training focused at the brigade and below level with the subject-matter experts from the USMC Tactical Training and Exercise Control Group’s urban team.

What is a concept of command and control, really? To help us answer, we talk to Maj White and MGySgt O’Donnell, two Marines with experience at C2 at the battalion and teaching it at MCTOG.

Wargaming isn’t just something that goes on at think tanks in the Beltway, it is an indispensable part of a unit training plan. In this episode we discuss why and how you can start wargaming with your unit right now.

We are speaking with Stu Lyle, urban lead at the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, and his British Army counterpart Major Shaun Clarke, about the trajectory of cities and its implications for urban operations.

In this episode, we unpack ten historical trends in urban operations with one of the leading experts on urban warfare, MAJ Jayson Geroux of the Canadian Armed Forces.

In this final episode in our series on Maneuver Warfare, we go to the man responsible for FMFM 1 Warfighting and its successor MCDP 1. We talk about Warfighting’s continued relevance and where improvements could be made in a revision.

In 2020, LtCol Tad Drake wrote “The Fantasy of MCDP 1” for the Marine Corps Gazette. In this penultimate episode in our series on Maneuver Warfare, we discuss his reservations about MCDP 1 Warfighting as doctrine and philosophy.

In this episode we try to cut through some of the myth and misinformation surrounding John Boyd’s theory by talking with one of the foremost experts on it: Maj Ian Brown, author of A New Conception of War.

In this episode, we discuss possible historical examples of Maneuver Warfare in practice, including the 1940 Battle of France.

In this episode, we explore the intersections of Maneuver Warfare and American Football with an innovative coach who has put the tenets of Maneuver Warfare into practice over a 40-year career.

In this first installment of a series exploring maneuver warfare, we hear some criticisms from one of its skeptics, LtCol John Meixner, commanding officer of 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment.

In March 2022, the Commandant of the Marine Corps directed MAGTFTC to review two years’ worth of exercise reports from the MAGTF Warfighting Exercise and report on the overarching trends. In this episode, Scott Kinner, LtCol Andy Hornfeck, and Maj AJ Cillo discuss the eight trends identified in the report.

Dr. Bruce Gudmundsson talks about his journey from Marine to professional historian and leading proponent of decision forcing cases. We then discuss the uses of decision forcing cases and tactical decision games as part of an intentionally-designed training strategy.

Planning can take many forms- week-long slogs through every conceivable detail to five minute decisions made by commanders. MCTOG has refined a model for how a battalion staff can run through a modified MCPP rapidly, giving them the agility to respond to changing circumstances or new directives from higher. AARs of free play exercises commonly reference the speed with which units can process new i...

Captain Snell is the Models and Simulations Officer for MCTOG and a  graduate of Naval Postgraduate School studying the same. Major Harris is  the current XO of MCTOG, and has written a graduate level thesis on the  subject of AI implementation in the military. By their powers combined,  they will get us to a point where we can understand real-world AI and  it's implicatio...

Andragogy, or Adult Learning, is the science of how a fully formed brain learns as opposed to how a child's brain learns. Weirdly enough, it's SUPER different. First I explain some of the basics models that make up the field of andragogy, then my guest and I discuss implications for TECOM and the Marine Corps, how to specifically apply them to training at the battalion level or below, and generall...

Major Nate Jones led the development of Advanced Maneuver Warfare Course, MCTOG's resident PME that focuses on developing the abilities of Operations and Intelligence Officers and Chiefs to implement maneuver warfare philosophy in tactical (battalion-level) planning.  He and a small team developed the course over the course of just a few months, with direct intent to root its lessons in the M...