With the release of his planning guidance and the selection of a new sergeant major of the Marine Corps, Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford is setting the tone for his tenure as the service's top general.
Next on his agenda is a tour of the Marine Corps to get feedback on his proposals.
Marine Corps Times had an exclusive interview with Dunford at his office in the Pentagon on Thursday to discuss his priorities and how to reset the Marine Corps after a dozen years of war. Here are excerpts of that interview, edited for space and clarity.
Q. Now that you've chosen a sergeant major and released your planning guidance, what are the next few items on your agenda?
A. Really the priority now is moving to the implementation phase of the planning guidance. And as you know it was written broadly, not prescriptive, intentionally so. , and so wWe're really in the phase now where I'm getting feedback from Marines who have read it, and, as importantly, Marines who are responsible for the tasks that are in it.
Each of the tasks that's in the planning guidance will have a detailed plan of action and milestones. When we lay out the timeline, we're going to meet the timeline. And I want the timeline to be realistic.
Q. In this postwar era, are there any discipline or conduct issues you're particularly concerned about?
A. My perspective on those issues is this: , I'm sure in different corners on any given day there's a Marine or two that's below standard. My job on behalf of the institution is just to remind people what the standards are. And their job is on a day to day basis to provide the leadership to make sure the Corps meets those standards. And I actually have a lot of confidence in the leadership we have right now to do that.
Q. You said in congressional testimony that another round of sequestration could bring the Marine Corps down to 175,000 Marines. How would that affect the new special purpose Marine air-ground task forces carrying out crisis response missions in places like Africa and the Middle East?
A. I believe if we go down to a Corps that's a little bit smaller than we have right now, given the importance of special purpose MAGTFs, we'll still do those. Given the importance of Marine Eexpeditionary Uunits, we'll still do those.
First Lt. Joseph Carroll with 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines looks on as an MV-22B Osprey takes off during training exercise. Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford said special-purpose Marine air-ground task forces that are forward deployed to respond to crises around the world will remain a priority, even if the Corps faces more personnel cuts.
Photo Credit: Lance Cpl. Julio McGraw/Marine Corps
What we'll do is we'll continue to meet the combatant commander's requirements in a broad framework of making sure the Marines are home at least twice as much as they're deployed. The other thing we'll always do is refine the requirements. The size of the special purpose MAGTF today is based on a dialog we have with the combatant commander. And that's not a static dialog, that's something that goes on all the time.
Q. Are there any other major post-war reset issues you're focused on?
A. We've operated in a much more disaggregated manner over the past 13 years than certainly before the war. And sSo today, in many cases, our tables of equipment still reflect the manner that we operated in 13 years ago. Now the Marines have in many cases the equipment that they need, it's just not part of the table of equipment. We haven't institutionalized that amount of equipment.
One of the other areas I really want to get after is, we've learned a lot about simulation and immersive training and bringing together live virtual constructive training over the past couple of years. I'm a big believer that those facilities have made a great contribution to tactical decision making at the small unit level, ethical decision making at the small unit level. So what I'm working closely with the team on is to say, "OK okay, we have all these systems out there, how do we link those to our training and readiness manual so they're a part of the logical progression of capability development?"
Q. Many Marines are wondering if you plan to relax the tattoo policy that was tightened a few years ago. What's your answer?
A. I haven't looked at it. I'll be seeing enough Marines over the coming months. where, wWhatever issues are most on their mind, I'm sure I'll be hearing about them. And whatever they happen to be, I'll listen.
Q. Marines are currently being surveyed about changes to the female dress blues. Are there any other major uniform changes being considered?
A. I did not come in with any specific uniform changes in mind. The commandant's planning guidance was really developed with input from Marines and Marine leaders and saying these are the issues that we think we ought to spend our time on right now.
When, where and how I'll engage is driven by the planning guidance CPG. My priority for personal engagement, and my priority for senior leader engagement across the institution and my priority for the dialog I want to have with my mMarines is focused on the areas that get after our leadership, our warfighting and our readiness.
Q. In the planning guidance, you talk about developing greater interoperability between Marines and special operations forces. What are the next steps?
A. Sometime in the spring or summer when it's at a time that's convenient for U.S. Special Operations CommandSOCOM, we'll get some of the senior leadership from the Marine Corps together with SOCOM senior leadership, kind of review where we are, and get back to being a learning organization.
We're out working with special operations forces today, across the globe. We've got a MEU that's coming back [with a special operations forces liaison element]. So it really is a question of just continuing to assess and get better.
