#3--Dathan Byrd

In this episode, we discuss: *What the Marine Corps was like when Dathan enlisted in 1998 *Dathan’s journey to decision-making, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence *A sense of what the Marine Corps infantry experience was like before 9/11 *The focus on uniformity, structure, and discipline that Dathan observed during his early years as a Marine *The dangers of compartmentalizing training and education *The experience of serving on MEUs in the late 1990s/early 2000s *Why the Marine Corps is attempting to “reembrace” maneuver warfare and concepts like commander’s intent *The confusion among some non-commissioned and staff non-commissioned officers between maneuver warfare and warfighting functions *How Dathan helps his students understand maneuver warfare as a philosophy of action *Applying the warfighting philosophy outside of combat *The general lack of understanding among staff non-commissioned officers about what maneuver warfare is and isn't *Dathan’s time serving with 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and the revelations he had there about his own competence and abilities *Dathan’s experiences being involuntarily recalled to duty in February 2005 and being sent to Iraq as a combat replacement with several units, including Third Battalion, Second Marines (3/2); a Marine wing unit, Regimental Combat Team 7; and Regimental Combat Team 2 *The division between the active duty Marines of 3/2 and the combat replacements *The lifechanging experience that Dathan had in Iraq with a lance corporal, and the role it played in his mission to educate Marines *Dathan on the topic of race while serving in 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion *Dathan’s observations on race and the Marine Corps in general *Dathan’s experiences serving at the Advisor Training Branch under the Special Operations Training Group *Dathan's experience of going through the Marine Corps Security Cooperation Course and working with the Emiratis *His journey to earning three college degrees (BA, Ed. M., and Ed. D.) *How writing a dissertation was harder than going to combat *The need for Marines to be valid and credible *Dathan’s advice on Marines wanting to go college *Dathan’s groundbreaking work with wargaming at the College of Enlisted Military Education (CEME) *Dathan’s use of matrix-style wargames *His stance on the superiority of wargames over tactical decision games *The lack of understanding for wargames that Dathan encountered among his colleagues *Dathan’s thoughts on the state of educational wargaming in the Marine Corps *How enlisted Marine wargaming efforts lag behind officer wargaming *How the complexity of some wargames make them less than ideal for use at CEME *How wargames can help develop intuitive thinking, critical thinking, communication, and an understanding of warfighting *The need to maintain momentum with wargaming efforts in enlisted education *The connection between education, validity, credibility, and reliability Links Dathan’s “Introduction to a Wargame Seminar (Nov. 2019)” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXCeGEK2WUs&t=703s Dathan’s “Wargame Demonstartion (Dec 2019)” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge0SU9Cm6GE Dathan’s dissertion: “Improving the Success of Light Armored Vehicle Drivers: A Qualitative Descriptive Narrative Study” https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED575388 Marine Corps Order 1500.55: MILITARY THINKING AND DECISION MAKING EXERCISES https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/MCO%201500.55.pdf