In this episode, we discuss
-The emphasis (or lack thereof) placed on self-study, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving during John’s time as a junior officer
-The four priorities of lieutenants when John served in the 2nd Marine Division
-On then-Major General Al Gray making maneuver warfare the official doctrine of the division
-The Marine Corps’ approach to warfighting before it adopted maneuver warfare
-The influence that Captain W.L. Smith had on Lieutenant Schmitt
-Some hypotheses on why maneuver warfare seems harder to practice in garrison
-John’s experience with commercial wargaming before the Marine Corps
-How wargames played a role in John’s eventual preference for tactical decision games (TDGs)
-How John first got into TDGs
-The origins of Enemy Over the Bridge, John’s first TDG and the first TDG of its kind published in the Marine Corps Gazette
-How writing FMFM-1 Warfighting influenced John’s writing of TDGs
-The experience of writing Enemy Over the Bridge
-How TDGs can bring to light the concepts of maneuver warfare
-The primary purpose of TDGs
-The creation and activities of Marine Corps University’s TDG Group
-How John and other member of THE saw themselves as maneuver warfare insurgents
-John’s thoughts on common TDG pitfalls
-How The MCU TDG Group came to the name “Tactical Decision Games”
-Where John draws inspiration from when developing a TDG
-Some of the more creative and unusual TDGs that John has created
-John’s thoughts on using TDGs at formal schools
-How John used TDGs as a Marine Officer Instructor with his Naval ROTC unit at the University of Illinois
-John’s thoughts on the Marine Corps’ renewed emphasis on wargaming
-The work that John’s been doing with online TDGs
-What John’s ideal unit PME program would look like
-How John first learned of maneuver warfare and what led him to contribute to it as Marine Corps doctrine
-The two stories of John’s “audition” to write FMFM-1 Warfighting and General Al Gray’s signing of it
-The Marines and military theorists who influenced John while he was writing Warfighting
-Which of the FMFMs/MCDPs that John wrote is the most enduring and which of them most requires revision
-The efforts to revise Warfighting under Generals Joe Dunford and Robert Neller
-Why John thinks someone other than him should write the next version of Warfighting
-What defeat mechanisms are
-The recent critiques of Warfighting and John’s thoughts on them
-How John might expose the youngest generation of Marines to Warfighting
-Alternatives to the German school of maneuver warfare
-John’s evaluation of the trends he’s seeing in the Department of Defense regarding war and warfighting
Links
Enemy Over the Bridge TDG by John Schmitt: https://mca-marines.org/blog/gazette/the-enemy-over-the-bridge/
Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication-1 Warfighting: https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/MCDP%201%20Warfighting.pdf
"Tactical Decision Games in a Virtual Setting" by John B. Douglas: https://www.benning.army.mil/infantry/magazine/issues/2020/Winter/PDF/15_Douglas_TDG.pdf
Errata
*When discussing technical MOS’s and TDGs, I meant to say “weapon optics repair Marines”