{"id":32757,"date":"2024-02-01T22:30:29","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T22:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/02\/01\/marine-leaders-drop-2030-from-name-of-ambitious-overhaul-plan\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T21:13:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T21:13:39","slug":"marine-leaders-drop-2030-from-name-of-ambitious-overhaul-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2024\/02\/01\/marine-leaders-drop-2030-from-name-of-ambitious-overhaul-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine leaders drop \u20182030\u2019 from name of ambitious overhaul plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2020, Marine Commandant Gen. David Berger unveiled Force Design 2030, his plan for getting his service ready for tough conflicts of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ambitious initiative has involved getting rid of tanks<\/a>, cutting some artillery<\/a>, and preparing Marines to fight in distributed groups<\/a> equipped with new<\/a> technologies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Force Design 2030 has redefined the Corps\u2019 trajectory in the first years of the decade. It has touched aspects of the service ranging from ammunition weight<\/a> to combat medical care<\/a> to swim training<\/a>. It has kicked up controversy<\/a> among some retired Marine leaders, who have lobbied against the changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now, it\u2019s called something slightly different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re kind of getting away from the \u20182030\u2032 moniker,\u201d Gen. Christopher Mahoney, the assistant commandant, said at a Hudson Institute event in Washington on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Corps\u2019 leaders have started referring to the plan formerly known as Force Design 2030 as simply \u201cForce Design.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just say \u2018Force Design\u2019 because I don\u2019t want to say 2031 next year, and 2032,\u201d Commandant Gen. Eric Smith said Oct. 27, 2023, at the Military Reporters & Editors conference<\/a> in Washington, two days before he experienced a cardiac arrest that has left him out of office while he recovers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith also prefers to drop the \u201c2030\u2033 from the related initiatives Talent Management 2030 and Training and Education 2030, according to his spokesman, Maj. Joshua Larson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith is still committed to the Force Design concept, Larson said in an emailed statement to Marine Corps Times on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe has made it clear that our modernization is a journey, continually refined through a campaign of learning that is informed through Fleet Marine Force experimentation and exercises,\u201d Larson said. \u201cHe feels the moniker \u20182030\u2032 makes it sound like there\u2019s an end point, and no longer uses it for the three original pillars of our modernization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t