The topics we discussed in this episode include:
-Hammes’ thoughts on professional military education (PME)
-Anti-intellectualism in the Marine Corps
-Some parallels between Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan
-What good PME looks like
-The Marine Corps personnel system and its negative effect on education and maneuver warfare
-The case for 360 fitness reports
-What formal schools provide in the PME process
-The “McNamara Method” of teaching tactical decision games (TDGs)
-“Linking minds” and having a shared mental mind in maneuver warfare
-Hammes on his staff non-commissioned officer and officer PME programs
-Doing terrain walks of the San Diego Airport and in San Clemente, California
-Where Hammes found inspiration for creative training
-On knowing when you’ve achieved implicit communication with your Marines
-The value of letting junior Marines write TDGs for unit PME
-The “bull in the ring” physical tactical decision game
-Using BB guns to train for urban combat
-How Hammes dealt with hazing in his units
-What a good self-directed PME looks like
-Doing an independent float in the Pacific as a new company commander
-Working with the Thai and Japanese militaries
-Hammes’ experiences with wargames and the benefits of manual vs digital wargaming
-How to get the most out of wargaming
-How to get Marines into wargames
-Why the Marine Corps should shift its ideal image of a general officer away from Chesty Puller and toward O.P. Smith
-The case for why, after boot camp, Marines should use first names with each other
-What it was like to serve during the “maneuver warfare renaissance”
-Hammes on the Marine Corps as a remembering institution vs a learning institution and the tensions between the two
-The tumultuous relationship between Marine air and Marine ground forces immediately after WW II
-Hammes’ experiences studying at Oxford University
Hammes’ new book, Deglobalization and National Security, and what surprised him while researching the book
-Some considerations of the future fight with Iran, China, and Russia
Links
The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Centuryby T.X. Hammes:
https://www.amazon.com/Sling-Stone-Century-Military-Classics/dp/B00FIA7P9G
Forgotten Warriors: The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, the Corps Ethos, and the Korean War by T.X. Hammes: https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Warriors-Provisional-Brigade-Studies-ebook/dp/B079Y2ZSNR/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=tX+Hammes&qid=1589209399&s=books&sr=1-2
Deglobalization and International Security by T.X. Hammes: https://www.amazon.com/Deglobalization-International-Security-Communications-Conflict-ebook/dp/B08671FJ3F/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=tX+Hammes&qid=1589209337&s=books&sr=1-1
On the McNamara Method: “TDGs Return” by T.X. Hammes: https://mca-marines.org/gazette/tdgs-return/
