Americas Defense Meltdown - IT Acquisition Advisory Council

William S. Lind • 107LORD DORN: Let me just send him a D-mail to let him know you are coming.Lord Dorn wrote out a short note, then called to the black Lab I noticed snoozing by thefireplace. The dog came over wagging its tail, happy to be of service, and took the note carefullyin its soft mouth. “Arn” ordered Lord Dorn, and the Lab loped off happily on its errand.ME: You prefer D-mail to E-mail?LORD DORN: Unlike electrons, even when intercepted, dogs don’t talk, and we makeour written messages undecipherable by virtue of code or unexplained context.ME: Your small officer corps and absence of staffs obviously means your officers mustbe good decision-makers. How are they schooled?LORD DORN: Officers go through two schools. All officers go through a basic school,and those who will rise above captain also attend our war college. Both schools focuson making decisions under stress in confusing situations. They are not staff colleges,but schools for commanders.ME: By any standard, your staffs are extraordinarily small. Why is that so?LORD DORN: Staffs quickly come to be agencies that work to make everything convenientfor the staff. Their growth slows everything down, puts paperwork burdens oncommanders and units, and centralizes decisions so that staffs have something to do.ME: In America, the justification for vast staffs and large numbers of staff officers isthe joint billets and the many jobs in the R&D and procurement areas. Obviously,you don’t have those requirements.LORD DORN: Unfortunately, we do. But we meet them differently. Reservists or retiredMarines recalled to active duty on a contract basis fill all those positions. The systemis called the Reserve/Retired Enhanced Manning Force, or RREMF. RREMFs enableus to keep the active-duty Marine Corps focused on warfighting. The RREMF officersserving on contract are not part of the “pipeline,” if you will. They are there for justone purpose. The fact that they stay in one job for years is also helpful.ME: Are retired Marines willing to do this in sufficient numbers?LORD DORN: Yes. We have a saying in Islandia, “Once a Marine, Always a Marine.”Our RREMFs are devoted to the Marine Corps, and they represent us better than