#10--John Schmitt

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”