Marine Corps Expeditionary Force 21: Amphibious Capability, Seapower, Projection Forces, Command Element Roadmap, Ship-to-Objective Maneuver, Concept of Employment, Seabasing Capabilities

Here, through the reproduction of many Marine Corps documents, is the story of the new capstone concept in 2014 for the U.S. Marine Corps: Expeditionary Force 21.

Expeditionary Force 21 provides guidance for how the Marine Corps Total Force—as an integral part of the larger naval and joint team—will be postured, organized, trained, and equipped to fulfill assigned public law and national policy responsibilities. Expeditionary Force 21 does not change what Marines do, but how they will do it. Expeditionary Force 21 draws guidance from national security direction and naval strategy as described by A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower. Expeditionary Force 21 will be integrated with the Marine Corps Service Campaign Plan 2014-2022 and Marine Corps Strategic Health Assessment.

MCDP 1-0 Operations, Aug 2011, provided an operational and doctrinal foundation that incorporated proven concepts such as Operational Maneuver From the Sea, Ship to Objective Maneuver, Seabasing and Marine Corps Operating Concepts (MOC). Expeditionary Force 21 builds on that "now" doctrinal foundation by providing guidance for concepts and capabilities while informing our force posture, organization, and capabilities over a 10-year period.

Expeditionary Force 21 is our new capstone concept replacing the Marine Corps Vision and Strategy 2025 and will align future concepts, advocate plans, and capability roadmaps. We will annually assess capabilities, priorities, long range vision and future operating environment to inform annual updates to Expeditionary Force 21.

Expeditionary Force 21 provides an aspirational vision of how we will operate in order to guide experimentation, force development activities, and inform programming decisions. Some goals within Expeditionary Force 21 will be achieved quickly while others will require continued work and coordination to develop. However, the overarching goal is to improve how we support the requirements of Geographic Combatant Commanders (GCCs) by providing the right force in the right place at the right time.

Contents: Expeditionary Force 21 (March 2014) * Expeditionary Force 21 Attributes * Why Amphibious Capability * U.S. Marine Corps - America's Expeditionary Force in Readiness * 2014 Report to Congress on the Posture of the United States Marine Corps * 2014 Testimony on Seapower and Projection Forces * 2014 Command Element Roadmap * Ship-to-Objective Maneuver * Amphibious Operations in the 21st Century * Concept of Employment for Current Seabasing Capabilities.

What "Being Expeditionary" Means to Marines - An expedition is a military operation conducted by an armed force to accomplish a specific objective in a foreign country. The U.S. Armed Forces participate in expeditions, with each contributing complementary capabilities: Navy, Air Force, and Army are optimized to dominate the sea, air, and land, respectively while the Coast Guard is optimized to safeguard our maritime interests. While the Marine Corps may operate on and from the sea, in and from the air, and on the land, it is not optimized to dominate any domain. Rather, the Marine Corps is optimized to be expeditionary — a strategically mobile force that is light enough to get to the crisis quickly, yet able to accomplish the mission or provide time and options prior to the arrival of additional forces.