Command Philosophies: A Maneuverist Perspective
By Maj Mike Hanson
Do you have a command philosophy? Have you thought about writing one yet? If you had to write your command philosophy today, what would it say? There are few areas where a leader has total discretion, but this is one. It can be whatever you want it to be and it certainly sets a tone. It’s the first step in establishing a baseline. It’s a powerful tool that I highly recommend commanders use. If you create an effective one, you will actually see your Marines act on it and embody it. Below is a command philosophy I wrote but ended up not using. However, I offer it to the Connecting File and hope that the sentiments expressed below help those to think about the tone they want to set.
We are Maneuverists. We seek a position of advantage to outwit, out-cycle, and out-maneuver our enemies. Maneuver Warfare is our doctrine and our philosophy, with MCDP 1 Warfighting, MCDP 1-3 Tactics, and MCDP 6 Command and Control are our guideposts. We will become an effective organization for Maneuver Warfare.
Maneuver Warfare operates at the speed of trust, and trust begins with discipline. This is the hard part, because if everyone had self-discipline then we wouldn’t need unit discipline. But inevitably, Marines push the limits and have to be held to the standard. This is the part of leadership that is not attractive or fun. Not everyone wants to hold people accountable because it may seem not worth their time over what they may perceive as petty trifles. However, this is the part of leadership that matters most because everything else begins with discipline. This requires adherence to many menial things that most people would rather not be bothered with. This means doing things like inspections. This means enforcing regulations. This means making corrections.
A leader is the last person in their organization that should be making corrections, but they are not above it. If a commander has to correct a Marine, then that indicates a failure of leadership at every level up to the commander. Every level below the commander should be embarrassed that the act that needed correcting made it past them. Though the leader should not have to make corrections, they must be ready to because failure to enforce a standard only creates a new standard.
Discipline creates a specific culture. Once a culture of living up to standards has been established, the unit becomes the legendary self-correcting organization. It is possible to achieve this state, but it takes work. It doesn’t simply spring up on its own. A leader has to foster the culture that this attitude lives in. It takes time and effort. It takes creating a team of leaders.
The result of this culture, however, is to ingrain subordinates with habits of thought and habits of action that cause them to police themselves. The seeds planted by making corrections and enforcing standards will bloom fully as Marines do the right thing when no one is looking. They will do this in both garrison and the field. Whether it is wearing their uniform right, conducting a proper field day of their living quarters, taking care of their gear, continually improving their position’s cover and concealment, regularly reapplying camouflage paint, or keeping their weapon clean and functional in a dirty environment. The troops will do these things without even thinking about it because it has become their nature. At this point, leaders need only to issue ruddersteers, because leaders inevitably have other priorities to focus on while subordinate leaders achieve their objectives.
At this point, trust has been established between leaders and subordinates, and both have what they need to operate to their maximum potential. With trust established, Maneuver Warfare is possible. Only now can the commander finally employ the means that make maneuver warfare so effective. Now the unit can operate decentralized and distributed, be given a broad commander’s intent to guide them, and employ mission tactics to accomplish the mission as they see fit.
Maneuver Warfare requires more trust and less supervision. But unit leaders must demand that their subordinates demonstrate that they can be trusted. Once subordinates earn their leader’s trust, the leader must empower them and trust them. Only then is Maneuver Warfare not only possible, but most effective.
We are Maneuverists. We will seek a position of advantage to outwit, out-cycle, and out-maneuver our enemies. We will create or seize an advantage, ruthlessly exploit, it and we will win.
Major Mike Hanson is currently a student at Command and Staff College. He can be reached at falconhorn45@gmail.com.
"But unit leaders must demand that their subordinates demonstrate that they can be trusted." This is probably the most important sentence. Trust is easy to keep, but hard, if not near impossible to regain if broken. Too often I saw in my career as an Army Infantry officer, folks were trusted but uncomfortable with autonomy and made bad (not illegal or evil, just ill-informed and or immature) choices with the use of their time. Additionally, if they don't know what right looks like, they don't know how to take advantage of their time alloted to them. Hence why supervision (and even very intrusive leadership from time to time) is not a bad word.