
Tactics and Operations
Tactics and Operations is the official podcast of the Marine Corps Tactics and Operations Group, part of Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command in Twentynine Palms, California. MCTOG and this podcast are dedicated to advancing Maneuver Warfare and Twenty-first Century Learning and are primarily focused at commanders and staffs at the battalion and regimental levels.
Latest episodes

Jun 3, 2020 • 41min
Rapid Planning Model with Nate Jones and Gunnery Sergeant Anthony Link
Planning can take many forms- week-long slogs through every conceivable detail to five minute decisions made by commanders. MCTOG has refined a model for how a battalion staff can run through a modified MCPP rapidly, giving them the agility to respond to changing circumstances or new directives from higher. AARs of free play exercises commonly reference the speed with which units can process new information and turn it into something operational. Only by doing so faster than the enemy can you gain an advantage. The Rapid Planning Model can help you do just that.

May 24, 2020 • 43min
Artificial Intelligence with Capt. Justin Snell and Maj. Jason Harris
Captain Snell is the Models and Simulations Officer for MCTOG and a graduate of Naval Postgraduate School studying the same. Major Harris is the current XO of MCTOG, and has written a graduate level thesis on the subject of AI implementation in the military. By their powers combined, they will get us to a point where we can understand real-world AI and it's implications and uses without referencing Skynet.

May 13, 2020 • 42min
Andragogy: Latin for "Multiple Choice Tests are Dumb" with Dr. Gene Coughlin
Andragogy, or Adult Learning, is the science of how a fully formed brain learns as opposed to how a child's brain learns. Weirdly enough, it's SUPER different. First I explain some of the basics models that make up the field of andragogy, then my guest and I discuss implications for TECOM and the Marine Corps, how to specifically apply them to training at the battalion level or below, and generally muck about making fun of bad learning experiences that we've had or seen.

May 3, 2020 • 38min
Maneuver Warfare with Major Nate Jones
Major Nate Jones led the development of Advanced Maneuver Warfare Course, MCTOG's resident PME that focuses on developing the abilities of Operations and Intelligence Officers and Chiefs to implement maneuver warfare philosophy in tactical (battalion-level) planning. He and a small team developed the course over the course of just a few months, with direct intent to root its lessons in the MCDP series of documents, while also connecting it to real-world historical examples. The Tactics and Operations Podcast sat down with him to get his thoughts on Maneuver Warfare and what it really is.