The U.S. Navy developed a program to train Marines to better tap into their intuition, reports The Daily Beast. The training manual, obtained by The Daily Beast through the Freedom of Information Act, is a how-to guide for training Marines to better utilize intuition and instincts.

The $4 million "sensemaking" initiative launched by the Office of Naval Research "depends on extracting environmental cues, interpreting their meaning and then connecting them in a plausible story," per the report. A Marine using sensemaking skills would use empathy in their assessment of a community and environment. The Marine then uses this information to imagine stories that could anticipate threats and opportunities.

Sensemaking doesn't necessarily require Marines to develop psychic powers or spidey sense — but it does encourage them to be situationally aware and to trust their instincts to explain behaviors and make sense of situations through stories they construct.

Sensemaking is just one of the many programs the Navy funds to improve Marines' "situational awareness," Bob Freeman, spokesman for the Office of Naval Research, told The Daily Beast. "We have a bunch of programs for helping Marines figure out situational awareness using virtual reality and things like that."

About Mackenzie Wolf

Mackenzie Wolf is an editorial intern for Military Times.

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