Americas Defense Meltdown - IT Acquisition Advisory Council

CHAPTER 5a traveler’s perspective onThird and Fourth Generation WarfareWilliam S. LindThe central problem facing the United States military is how to move from Secondto Third Generation War, which is to say from French attrition warfare to Germanmaneuver warfare, while simultaneously thinking through the challenge posed byFourth Generation War (4GW).Late last year, I had the opportunity to travel to two countries, Islandia and theAustro-Hungarian Empire, whose armed forces have made important progress onboth of those tasks. The Islandian Marine Corps has adopted a highly innovativeforce structure, expressive of both the concepts and the culture of maneuver warfarethat could serve as a model for the United States Marine Corps.As is well known, Islandia is an independent nation located at the southern end ofthe Karain subcontinent (for a basic history of Islandia, see “Islandia” by Austin TappanWright [Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1944]; for an update, see “The Islar” byMark Saxton (New York, N.Y.: Signet Books, 1971]). 1 While Islandia’s national securityrequirements differ substantially from those of the U.S. government, Islandia is theonly country besides the United States to maintain a large Marine Corps.Islandian Marine Corps Force StructureThe Islandian Marine Corps of 175,000 men is structured as 175 active-duty battalionsof 1,000 men each. Each active-duty battalion has two mirror-image reserve battalions,both made up of veterans of the active battalion. On mobilization, it can triple in sizein a matter of days, with cohesive, well-trained reserve units.An unusual feature of the Islandian Marine Corps is that all Islandian Marinesare at all times on the muster rolls of a battalion. This includes even the Commandant.The purpose, as Lord Dorn, the commandant of the Islandian Marine Corps,explains below, is transparency. At any time, it is easy to see where Marines are andwhat they are doing.Each battalion keeps a muster roll, updated monthly, showing both total strengthand the location of each marine, e.g., Cpl. Hythe Eck, a light machine gunner, 2ndfire team, 3rd squad, 3rd platoon, Company A. A Marine detached for school, staffassignment or senior command is still carried on the muster roll with his currentlocation, e.g., commander, 2nd Marine Division. Officers above the rank of lieutenantcolonel who are normally assigned away from the battalion are grouped on themuster roll as “supernumeraries.”