For the past 15 years to 20 years senior leaders have had access to an unprecedented amount of data on every inch of the battlespace while deployed, Berger said Aug. 2 at the annual Sea Air Space conference hosted by the Navy League.

Information tied with the natural desire of control has hurt the Corps’ ability to think ahead and has reduced the independence of junior leaders, he says ― an independence that is necessary to cultivate for the future of dispersed operations that Berger envisions.

Small unit Marine leaders “are ready to make decisions, I think at their level we are shackling them,” Berger said.

The Corps is undergoing a revolutionary force design change aimed at moving it away from the past 20 years of wars in the Middle East to one focused on near-peer opponents like China and Russia.

Berger sees the future of the Corps as a small, light, maneuverable force widely dispersed within range of the theoretical enemy’s weapons and rocket systems.

The dispersion and maneuverability will prevent the hypothetical enemy from landing any knockout blow against the Marines, while a location near the opponent will allow them to track the enemy’s naval movement and accurately direct missile fires.

The dispersion will put extra pressure on junior leaders with future companies, potentially having them take on the responsibilities currently residing with battalions or even regiments.

“I think the best commanders I’ve seen actually sit outside their command centers because they sense, ‘I can’t get overwhelmed by what’s happening in the moment I need to think ahead,” Berger said.

While Berger trusts those junior leaders, he is unsure if his generation of leaders are capable of handing them the reins and if the structure of the Corps encourages leaders at that level to take risks.

The commandant said one of the main driving forces in his vision for a future Corps was an order sent by former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest King in January 1941.

The letter, popularly known as serial 53, calls out the Navy’s culture of “flag officers and other group commanders to issue orders and instructions in which their subordinates are told ‘how’ as well as ‘what’ to do to such an extent and in such detail that the ‘Custom of the service’ has virtually become the antithesis of that essential element of command — ‘initiative of the subordinate.’”

King goes on to cite the anxiety of commanders to perform their duty so “smoothly that none may comment unfavorably,” as the main cause of the micromanaging of commanders.

Berger said the Corps could lift King’s “diagnosis” and apply it to the modern-day Marine Corps.

“If we give them broad guidance and let them make the mistakes, let them run, we will have much better small unit commanders,” he added.

To help junior Marine leaders be more comfortable making decisions the commandant has set about reforming both officer and enlisted schoolhouses, allowing Marines to take on more responsibility from the very start of their careers.

The Corps is implementing changes that will use “YouTube” style videos, online flashcards, issued laptops or tablets and other tools to help Marines pass courses at their own pace and take greater ownership of their own learning.

The strategy already has led to more than 100 Marines graduating from the Network Administrators Course at Marine Corps Communication Electronics School.

The so called “21st century learning” model also was implemented in the Corps’ new infantry school, where the focus was on creating future squad leaders and platoon sergeants, rather than just competent trigger pullers.

Graduates from the first pilot program ran at the School of Infantry–West on Camp Pendleton, California, left the course more proficient in many infantry skills, but most importantly they were free-thinkers capable of solving a problem without the help of instructors or noncommissioned officers.

“By accident we created tacticians,” Lt. Col. Walker Koury, commanding officer for Infantry Training Battalion–West, told a group of reporters in April.

Berger suggested the Marine Corps re-evaluate how it performs its after action reports once in the fleet.

Instead of immediately critiquing a decision made by small unit leaders, Berger said every after action report, from a training scenario, should start off by thanking the leader for simply making a decision.

Berger also wants to put new technology in the hands of captains and majors, allowing them to develop uses and protocols for the new tech that may have been missed by top brass in the Pentagon.

“We’re at a disadvantage at my grade and age,” Berger said.

“That’s the sweet spot, just give them the tools, don’t tell them how to use them, they’ll probably by the end of tomorrow figure out seven ways you had never envisioned,” Berger said.

Marines will be armed to the teeth with sensors and potentially missiles capable of sinking enemy ships. That’s the vision of Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger that was formulated specifically to faceoff against China in the Pacific Ocean, but Marine leaders say can it be used in any other potential theater of war.

While the Corps is still fine-tuning certain aspects of dispersed operations, like training and equipment, one major questions remains.

How will the Marine Corps provide logistical support to dispersed Marines in a hostile environment?

Marine Lt. Gen. Eric Smith the current commander of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command and the deputy commandant for combat development and integration has one possible solution: Foraging.

“The first thing about being able to handle a logistics enterprise support you in a distributed environment is need less,” Smith said Tuesday at the 2021 Sea-Air-Space conference.

“Why would I move water to the South China Sea? That’s insane, why would I move food? It’s called expeditionary foraging,” he added.

In the future Marines may be tasked with getting their own food, processing their own water and potentially even buying replacement parts for their equipment while dispersed on small far-flung expeditionary advanced bases, the general said.

In December 2019, Marines with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit put some of those foraging concepts to the test while training on the island of Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands.

During the exercise Marines with Combat Logistics Battalion 31, were tasked with maintaining logistical support of the MEU using “21st century foraging,” Marine Corps Times previously reported.

Smith believes future Marines will deploy with small water purifiers, which can be carried by a single Marine, and wearable power generators.

“The only thing I wish to move is lethality,” Smith said.

“Fuel, additives you don’t have to bring everything.”

The moves are meant to allow MARFORCYBER to keep experienced cyber operators, Maj. Gen. Lori Reynolds told Marine Corps Times.

“Most of the Marines who come on mission, they want to stay on the mission,” Reynolds said after speaking at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space symposium. “They don’t really want to go back to where they came from.”

Traditionally, Marine cyber operators have primarily come from two occupational fields: signals intelligence and communications, Reynolds said. Once assigned to MARFORCYBER, the command trains those Marines, gives them security clearances and puts them on teams.

Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller has approved creating a new occupational field and new MOSs for enlisted cyber operators, warrant officers and officers, Reynolds said.  

This way, MARFORCYBER can keep talented cyber operators who have conducted multiple operations during three or four years of experience instead of having those Marines return to their original MOS, Reynolds said.

“Those who come to cyber stay in cyber,” Reynolds said. “You’d be an offensive cyber guy or a defensive cyber guy, but once you come, you stay.”

The new occupational field and MOSs are slated to become a reality “as soon as possible,” Reynolds said, but Marine Corps officials are still working out the details.

The changes are in line with how Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command retains its Marines, she said.

“What we’ve learned in MARSOC is once you get all that training into Marines, you want to reap that investment for the fullness of their career,” Reynolds said.