New in 2021: Going to the field may look different for Marines January 12 Marines with India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, participate in live-fire assaults on range Golf-36 (G-36), Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Dec. 12, 2020. (Lance Cpl. Jacqueline Parsons/Marine Corps) In 2020 the Marine Corps laid out the initial force design plan for the Corps’ next decade. The smaller, tankless, more mobile force laid out in spring 2020 is still missing a few details the Corps hopes to work out over the next few years, during “phase three” of the force design. The three-year experimental phase will see Marines heading to the field more, spending more time working with the Navy, and having Marines experiment more with nonscripted training events against equal or superiorly equipped opponents.
January 3 Marines show Japan Ground Self-Defense Force service members room-clearing techniques during Exercise Forest Light Western Army at Kirishima Maneuver Field, Kumamoto, Japan, Jan. 27, 2020. (Sgt. Audrey M. C. Rampton/Marine Corps) In 2021 the Corps will launch a new pilot program to extend the time new Marines spend at the School of Infantry to 14 weeks. The pilot program comes as the Corps looks to develop a new way to fight as the threat of a near-peer enemy like China or Russia takes precedent over the Middle East wars of the past two decades. “We have at least one adversary that we haven’t had in decades,” Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger said, talking about the strengthening Chinese military.
December 17, 2020 Marines show Japan Ground Self-Defense Force service members room-clearing techniques during Exercise Forest Light Western Army at Kirishima Maneuver Field, Kumamoto, Japan, Jan. 27. (Sgt. Audrey M. C. Rampton/Marine Corps) The tri-service maritime strategy released on Thursday by the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard painted a picture of China gaining strength and influence in the Pacific, threatening the “rules-based international order” and reminiscent of Imperial Japan in the decades prior to World War II. To counter the modern Chinese threat, the three services will take a more aggressive posture toward China, while modernizing the force for a potential war, according to the strategy.