For Colonel Stuart W. Glenn, it’s an opportunity to test his skills in military strategy at the Commandant’s Cup Wargaming Tournament finals. For Lance Corporal Omariyon Wright, it’s a chance to “stay in the know… [about] all the modern-day technology, weapons, vehicles” and other equipment coming soon to the fleet. For Marines of all ranks, Modern Day Marine is a highlight of the year, providing the premier venue for learning about the state of the Corps and gaining an inside perspective on its areas of growth. 

“The future of warfare is right now, so seeing what we have, current capabilities and what future developments we’re currently making is pretty cool,” said Sergeant Bryan Arteaga Celeiro, an air traffic control Marine who attended the 2025 expo, which is cohosted by the Marine Corps Association and the Marine Corps League.

Of special note at this year’s show was the preponderance of products aimed at training and education. From virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets to recoil-simulating dummy rifles, Marines at the expo were given ample opportunity to try out high-tech training systems designed to help improve mission-critical skills in a variety of military occupational specialties. With the 39th Commandant’s Planning Guidance directing the Marine Corps to “fully integrate constructive and virtual training into [its] exercises… [to] train with the full complement of [its] new capabilities,” Leatherneck paid special attention to companies exhibiting training systems, including some that are already in service.

InVeris Training Solutions

Some of the crowd favorites at this year’s Modern Day Marine were the firearm training systems (FATS®) exhibited by InVeris Training Solutions. Throughout the expo, a near-constant stream of Marines and civilians passed through InVeris’ booth and fired off tens of thousands of simulated rounds at virtual targets and computer-generated hostiles.

Most Marines and soldiers are already familiar with the company’s FATS 100MIL as the Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer (ISMT) and Engagement Skills Trainer (EST), respectively. It uses a projector and screen to create a virtual shooting range for up to five shooters (or up to 15 with three systems linked together) to practice with replica pistols, rifles, shotguns, grenade launchers and various crew-served weapons. Virtual ranges can be configured with a variety of static and moving targets and simulate the effects of environmental conditions on ballistics, applying the correct amount of drop and wind drift depending on distance.

The FATS AR takes virtual firearms training into the third dimension, using a lightweight augmented reality (AR) headset to transform any indoor environment up to 10,000 square feet in size into a simulated shoot house for up to four users at once. Enemy combatants and civilians behave realistically, either using AI or a human operator monitoring the situation from outside. After clearing the shoot house, shooters can walk back through and watch a playback of themselves in real time to analyze their own performance.

Every “firearm” compatible with InVeris’ training simulators has nearly identical weight, balance and controls to the live-fire model from which it is rebuilt, and even simulates about 60 percent of a realistic recoil impulse using a gas blowback system feeding from a compressed air capsule in the magazine. The weapon can be programmed to hold a preset number of “rounds” per magazine and lock the bolt or slide back on empty, just like a real firearm. Magazines are recharged between sessions using a large scuba-type tank holding enough compressed air for about 45,000 shots, allowing shooters to practice all day for literal pennies on the dollar.

This isn’t just a high-tech version of an arcade game, though—a suite of onboard electronics wirelessly linked to a control computer offers highly sophisticated analytics to assist each shooter in correcting bad habits that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. After a shooting stage is completed, the software shows the operator how long it took for each shooter to begin firing, engage each target and transition between targets, with a line showing the point of aim throughout. Are you slapping the trigger, holding your firing hand too low on the grip or jerking the rifle under recoil? InVeris’ software can help your instructor show you exactly where you need to improve your shooting.

In addition to aiding basic marksman-ship practice without the need for a real range or live ammunition, InVeris’ virtual firearm trainers provide a safety benefit, as they allow novice shooters to practice handling their service weapons with no risk of negligent discharge. The safety benefits also extend to personnel in com-bat arms MOS’s; whereas firing a live mortar produces the type of concussive blasts that have been linked to traumatic brain injury, simulated shots are perfectly safe.

InVeris does not claim that their FATS can completely replace live-fire marksmanship training, but military and law enforcement organizations around the world have already recognized the value in these simulations. The U.S. Army and Marine Corps use the FATS 100MIL virtual range, as mentioned above; the Air Force and Coast Guard use the FATS AR, and the U.S. Marshals Service has evaluated it.

Ultimate Training Munitions

Virtual firearms training with sim-ulated recoil is certainly impressive technology, but for force-on-force training, a different solution is needed. As its name suggests, Ultimate Training Munitions (UTM) offers a line of nonlethal ammunition and conversion kits that allow existing firearms to use it.

Conceptually similar to Simunitions, UTM’s solution consists of drop-in re-placement bolt carrier groups for rifles, submachine guns and machine guns, and replacement slide assemblies for pistols. Special magazines which are identical in size to standard ones but are physically incapable of loading UTM ammunition and vice versa are also used. Even if a live round were to be force fed into a UTM weapon or the other way around, the primers are in different locations, preventing a potentially catastrophic accident.

The UTM bullet contains a spherical plunger which continues moving forward when the projectile impacts a target, spraying out a small amount of marking paint more reliably than paintball-type projectiles. A firearm training system is useless if it does not offer adequate accuracy, so the UTM bullet includes a driving band—like on an artillery shell—which allows the rifling in the host firearm’s barrel to stabilize the projectile just like an ordinary bullet. The company claims better than 2-inch groups at 27 yards with 5.56 rifles such as the M4 and M27, entirely adequate for close-quarters battle-type scenarios.

To enable force-on-force training with its marking ammunition, UTM also offers a variety of protective gear, such as face masks compatible with helmets and communications devices. Because the projectiles travel at a modest 300 to 375 feet per second, face protection and padding around sensitive body areas are the only specialized equipment needed to prevent serious injury to someone shot with UTM rounds. Because of the lack of penetrating power, a military unit or law enforcement agency using UTM equipment can use the aptly named Portable Training Facility system to quickly construct a shoot house using metal poles and tarpaulin-like walls and doors.

For realistic training outside force-on-force scenarios, UTM conversion kits also work with “battlefield blanks,” which create realistic noise and recoil without firing a projectile, and “silent blanks,” which still cycle UTM actions without creating any potentially dangerous muzzle blast.

Although a UTM-converted firearm is even less powerful than a paintball gun, its blowback action generates a realistic recoil impulse and cyclic rate of fire, enhancing training. Firing a converted HK MR556 (similar to the M27 IAR) inside UTM’s plexiglass enclosure at the expo was a highly immersive experience: the recoil, the action noise, the sound of spent casings bouncing off the floor and even the smell of burnt powder all mimicked the sensations associated with a live firearm and real ammunition. Al-though hearing protection was not required, the sound of the gunshots was similar to that of a real gunshot heard through hearing protection.

Due to its greater complexity to manufacture, UTM ammunition is more expensive than standard lethal ammunition, but like InVeris’ FATS, its purpose is not to replace live-fire marksmanship train-ing. Instead, UTM firearms and ammuni-tion allow military and law enforcement personnel to “train how they fight,” prac-ticing close combat as realistically as possible so as to maximize performance on the actual battlefield. Air Force Security Forces, Coast Guard, Army and SOCOM (including MARSOC) per-sonnel have already been training with UTM kits; the Marine Corps has a program of record for it as well, meaning UTM may soon become widespread in infantry units.

Cole Engineering Services’ Stinger Training System

At its large booth along the show floor’s main thoroughfare, By Light Professional IT Services showed off its child companies’ vehicle and small arms trainers. Cole Engineering Services displayed its modular training systems for the FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missile and crew-served mortars, all built around an electronics package dubbed the “cyclops.” Cole’s Stinger training system consists of a dummy gripstock and launch tube, the former of which has a socket for the “cyclops.” Once the “cyclops” has established a wireless connection to a computer or smartphone, the user operates the launcher exactly as he or she would a live one, while the electronics log analytics in real time throughout the firing cycle. The entire system can be used by itself or connected to a computer network that automatically adjudicates “hits” and “misses” for force-on-force exercises, which is how the Army has utilized the Stinger trainer so far. For training with mortars and other heavy weapons, the “cyclops” can be swapped over to other dummy launchers, its onboard software automatically adjusting to the different behavior of each weapon.

The Army already uses Cole Engineering Services’ Stinger trainer, and the company is eager to obtain a Marine Corps contract. Due to the considerable cost of Stinger missiles and the disposable battery coolant units they consume, Low Altitude Air Defense (LAAD) gunners ordinarily have little opportunity for practice, potentially inhibiting combat effectiveness. Given the proliferation of small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) on the modern battlefield, an electronic training system such as this one could be more valuable than ever in remedying that training gap and ensuring LAAD gunners are already proficient before they ever fire live missiles.

MVRsimulation’s Deployable Joint Fires Trainer

The high-tech training systems on display at this year’s Modern Day Marine were by no means limited to small arms. MVRsimulation demonstrated its mixed-reality Deployable Joint Fires Trainer (DJFT), which the Air Force and III MEF already use to train joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs) and forward observ-ers (FOs). First fielded three years ago, the DJFT consists of three portable work-stations with peripherals designed to emulate the real equipment, such as radios and laser designators, that JTACs and FOs use. The physical hardware is visible inside the computer-generated environment projected in the virtual reality headset, allowing the user to interact with it seamlessly. This blending of the real and virtual worlds creates an almost uncanny level of immersion.

The three stations are configured for an observer, an instructor and a role player, the latter of whom uses a hands-on throttle-and-stick controller to fly aircraft in the simulation. All three users interact with each other through a virtual recreation of real-life locations, run on MVRsimulations’ Virtual Reality Scene Generator engine or the Modern Air Combat Environment produced by Battlespace Simulations. The computers inside each station are built with the same components one might find in a high-end professional workstation or gaming computer and run Windows 10, ensuring compatibility with other hardware and software. Each machine is light enough to be carried by two people in its packed state and has a unified onboard power supply, needing only one wall outlet for the entire station instead of one for each component inside.

Forterra’s AutoDrive and Allen Control Systems’ Bullfrog

The past few years have seen an explosion in unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) development. Companies such as Pratt Miller and Oshkosh Defense have developed small UGVs with adequate mobility to keep up with a Marine rifle squad as it moves over rough terrain, providing integrated logistics and fire support at the small unit level. All that capability comes at a cost, however. Every infantryman designated to control a UGV is a Marine not using his or her rifle, which could pose a problem in combat. Clearly, before UGVs are widely fielded in the Marine Corps, a solution is needed to eliminate the task of leading vehicles around like pack animals.

To that end, Forterra (formerly Robotic Research Autonomous Industries) spe-cializes in UGV autonomy. Their flagship product, AutoDrive®, is a retrofit package consisting of a 50-pound ruggedized computer “brain” connected to a sensor suite, capable of autonomously driving an otherwise manned or remotely con-trolled ground vehicle. The brain is more durable than a human driver, and all the sensitive electronics inside are shielded against electromagnetic interference to prevent disruptions to the mission. Although an AutoDrive-equipped vehicle can be controlled wirelessly by a remote operator anywhere in the world, its onboard software allows it to intelligently navigate to a designated location using the best available route while recognizing and avoiding environmental hazards.

For UGVs operating at the squad level, this level of autonomy is crucial. An AutoDrive-equipped vehicle can trans-port extra supplies and ammunition, evacuate wounded Marines, patrol a perimeter or provide fire support to a squad in contact with the enemy, allowing Marines to focus on the mission instead of a controller. With autonomous vehicles providing organic logistical and fire support at the squad level without the need for additional vehicle crews, an infantry unit can bring more supplies and heavier weapons into battle.

To enable autonomous UGVs to fight alongside Marines in the field, Forterra is working with Allen Control Systems to provide remote weapons stations. The latter company’s Bullfrog system is essentially a small robotic turret designed to operate an unmodified M240B machine gun. Bullfrog uses an infrared camera, artificial intelligence-based targeting software and an onboard ballistic calculator to autonomously identify targets, aim the weapon and adjust its fire. The system is accurate enough to ensure a first-round hit on a standing man-sized target at up to 800 meters, with its range limited only by weather conditions and the inherent precision of the weapon and ammunition. With its superior reaction time over a human gunner combined with a traverse rate of 400 degrees per second and the ability to fire directly overhead, the Bullfrog is ideal for engaging small, fast-moving enemy UAS. Its software currently requires authorization from a human supervisor before it pulls the trigger, but a human operator is not technically necessary for the system to function.

AutoDrive and Bullfrog can interface with existing command, control and communications (C3) networks to share information about the battlespace with friendly units. Even onboard the same vehicle, a Bullfrog turret can instruct the AutoDrive “brain” to search for new targets, for example.

Forterra has demonstrated AutoDrive units on a wide variety of vehicles, ranging from small UGVs to joint light tactical vehicles (JLTVs) and even High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems. The company is also pushing for wider adoption on commercial vehicles, such as forklifts and trucks, to remove human operators and therefore increase safety at industrial sites such as ports.

BAE Systems’ Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV)

The centerpiece of the show was BAE Systems’ amphibious combat vehicle (ACV), the Marine Corps’ replacement for its geriatric assault amphibious vehicle (AAV) fleet. Given its crucial role in the Corps’ mission of expeditionary war-fare, the ACV program has had a high pro-file, especially after a series of rollover accidents in 2022 and 2023. To address the resulting concerns, the Marine Corps has updated its training for vehicle crews to emphasize the new vehicle’s different handling characteristics from the legacy AAV.

The ACV’s most obvious external difference from its predecessor is its wheeled motive system. The debate between wheels and tracks has raged fiercely for decades, but generally speaking, wheels offer greater speed, whereas tracks spread a vehicle’s weight more evenly to provide better mobility over soft ground. With its centralized tire in-flation system, though, the ACV can dynamically reduce the air pressure in its own tires for operation on soft beach sand, for example. Unlike the tracked AAV, which becomes effectively immobile if a track separates or becomes dislodged, an ACV can still move under its own power with up to two of its eight wheels damaged. One additional benefit the wheeled motive system offers is increased comfort for the vehicle’s occupants. Far from a mere convenience feature, this reduces fatigue on the crew and passengers, improving their combat effectiveness.

Safety is a major area of emphasis in the ACV’s design. Although the vehicle has a somewhat high center of gravity, this is a by-product of its use of a V-shaped hull, which offers much greater protection from mines and improvised explosive devices than legacy vehicles’ flat-bottomed hulls. In the event of a rollover, individual seats with har-nesses protect the occupants from injury much better than the primitive bench seats found in the AAV. Although the use of individual seats reduces passenger capacity in relative terms, the standard ACV-P variant can still transport a full squad of Marines in safety and relative comfort.

BAE Systems offers the ACV in four variants. The ACV-P is the standard armored personnel carrier configuration, transporting 13 combat-loaded Marines and armed with a .50-caliber machine gun in a remote weapon station. This variant is by far the most numerous, with more than 300 examples already in Marine Corps service. For direct fire support against fortified positions and light armored vehicles, the ACV-30 gives up five seats in the passenger compartment to replace the machine gun with a 30 mm autocannon turret. Thirty units have been delivered so far, with up to 150 more on order. The ACV-R variant is an armored recovery vehicle mounting a crane and winch to tow disabled vehicles and pro-vide mobile maintenance support; so far, three examples have been produced for testing. The ACV-C is a dedicated com-mand platform, further reducing passen-ger capacity to seven and replacing the remote weapon station with a mounted M240 to free up space for C3 equipment. According to BAE, the ACV’s 690-horse-power engine gives all variants equal or superior mobility and range on both land and water as compared to the AAV.

At this year’s Modern Day Marine, BAE Systems showcased the ACV platform’s modularity with a test chassis in a logistics configuration, its passenger compartment and remote weapon system replaced with a cargo area and a crane similar to that on the ACV-R. This variant is not one the Marine Corps has specif-ically requested, but BAE hopes to dem-onstrate its utility in providing logistical support in contested environments. The crane can hoist up to 4,000 pounds, al-lowing it to lift a power pack (engine and transmission) to aid in repair and main-tenance of other ACVs in the field. The payload bay can store 500 cubic feet and up to 1,000 pounds of cargo, such as fuel containers, spare tires and ammunition; its roof can be opened to allow for direct loading and unloading with the crane.

Designed for frontline combat, the ACV-P and ACV-30 feature the so-called Integrated Combat System (ICS), a sophisticated battle computer that provides increased situational awareness and can help aim the remote weapon stations. Using touchscreen interfaces or physical controls, an ACV crew can work together with the ICS to efficiently locate and destroy a threat before it has a chance to shoot back. The ICS’s semi-autonomous nature allows it to track small, fast-moving targets that would otherwise be difficult for a human gunner to hit. With airburst or proximity-fuze munitions, remote weapon stations on ACVs have been demonstrated shooting down small UAS moving at up to 18 miles per hour. Similar systems have already seen combat use in Ukraine, with at least one recorded shootdown of a cruise missile.

XR Training

To support the ACV program, the Ma-rine Corps put out requests for simulation hardware and software to help ACV drivers and gunners build proficiency outside the vehicle. In February 2024, XR Training was awarded a contract to produce their aptly named Driver Train-ing System (DTS), a custom solu-tion developed specifically to meet the Marine Corps’ needs. So far, XR Training has delivered 81 such systems to Marine installations around the world and is presently working with the Corps to introduce the Gunnery Training System, which is very similar in form and function.

Each DTS unit consists of a seat, a set of hand and foot controls mimicking those of a real ACV and an augmented reality headset, all connected to a laptop computer running the simulation software. The use of augmented reality instead of monitors offers superior immersion; unlike with fully physical or fully virtual solutions, the user can see the physical controls he or she is manipulating inside the simulated environment projected by the headset. The controls and seat are connected to a common chassis, which can articulate like an amusement park ride to simulate the feeling of acceleration and travel over uneven terrain.

These features combine to create a level of immersion that not only improves the quality of the training, but can even make that training enjoyable. For a generation of Marines raised with video games, the ACV-DTS is essentially a high-tech driving simulator that helps them hone the skills they use every day in 18-series MOS’s. XR Training offered Marines at the expo the chance to trial the system.

After a session on the DTS, MDM attendee Sergeant Chayce Quaranta was quick to point out the value of such realistic simulated training. “I think it’s a good training tool,” he said. “It’s immersive and seems inexpensive.” In his opinion, the system’s video-game-like nature promises to increase its value as a training aid. “With Marines getting excited about that, they’re more likely to learn.”

While Quaranta maneuvered the simulated ACV through a combat zone, Sgt Bryce Jones manned the Gunnery Training System and engaged targets with the vehicle’s remote weapon station. “This does a really good job of showing how hard it is to stay on target in a moving vehicle on rough terrain,” observed Jones, a former crew-served weapons instructor. “Every MOS, I think, should have some level of simulated training.”

Another major area of consideration in the DTS design is modularity. As well as enabling the use of commercial off-the-shelf components to save cost and make maintenance easier, this design paradigm makes the system easy to reconfigure to simulate other types of vehicles should the need arise. Additionally, the entire unit can be fully disassembled in less than half an hour and transported in two Pelican-style cases.

MDM: Hands-On Educational Experience

As in every year, attendees at Modern Day Marine 2025 were treated to the opportunity to see future technology and try it out for themselves. From the Objective 1 Wargaming Convention area to the numerous vehicle and small arms simulators set up for demonstration, Marine visitors were encouraged to participate in the expo. “I expected to get hands-on, but not this hands-on,” said LCpl Michael Walsh after using a JLTV simulator.

In addition to the acres of high-tech gear, Modern Day Marine hosts numerous professional military education briefings running nearly constantly over its three-day duration. These help place all the fancy gadgets on the show floor into their proper context as essential tools for pres-ent and future warfighters. The expo is a valuable experience “if you’re just looking for a glimpse of how much tech is out there and how the military can actually use it,” according to Master Gunny Sergeant Felipe Lopez, a defense logistics manager at CD&I, “but also you get a glimpse of what the Marine Corps actually provides to the nation—what the Marine Corps is capable of doing and just [how] being equipped with the right gear set makes us that much more lethal.”

Between the near-constant briefings and demonstrations at half a dozen presentation areas and the thousands of corporate, government and nonprofit ex-hibitors, there is always something to see or do at Modern Day Marine, and it only improves with each year. Every Marine attendee interviewed for this article had something positive to say about this year’s expo, but Sgt James Sellers, an air traffic control communications technician, put it the best: “Come to Modern Day Marine!”

Author’s bio: Sam Lichtman is a free-lance writer and editor who specializes in small arms technology and military history. He has a weekly segment on Gun Owners Radio. He is a licensed pilot who lives in Virginia.

Featured Image (Top): Modern Day Marine offers an opportunity to see and learn about new military hardware designed for the battlefields of the future. Built by Pratt Miller Defense, a subsidiary of Oshkosh, this unmanned ground vehicle (above) was just one of the several unmanned systems on display at the expo.

Expo Features Display of Latest Innovations In Gear, Technology

By Sam Lichtman

From May 10-12, representatives from more than 400 defense con­tractors, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations descended on the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., for Modern Day Marine (MDM) 2022, hosted by the Marine Corps Association (MCA) and the Marine Corps League (MCL).

In addition to the exhibitors, the MCA and MCL hosted a slate of guest speakers including the Secretary of the Navy, Carlos Del Toro; General David H. Berger, Commandant of the Marine Corps; and several other senior leaders of the Corps. Throughout the three-day expo, they delivered informative presentations on a wide variety of topics ranging from acquisitions to littoral combat. Of note were several briefings covering various aspects of Force Design 2030, Gen Berger’s plan to make the Marine Corps more flexible and adaptable. The briefings and guest speakers, a key component of MDM, provided an opportunity for professional development for the many Marines who attended the expo from throughout the National Capital Region.

Leatherneck sent representatives to the event to learn about the latest in military technology and offer our readers a sampling of what’s new in the industry. Future issues of Leatherneck and marinemilitaryexpos.com will have information about next year’s event, scheduled for June 27-29, 2023.

MCA offers more professional development resources at:
mca-marines.org/professional-development.

HDT Global Hunter WOLF

Unmanned vehicles seem to be a popular technology among some of the larger companies in the defense industry. Among others, HDT Global had two examples of their Hunter WOLF (Wheeled Offload Logistics Follower) unmanned ground vehicle on display. The Hunter WOLF is a small six-wheeled ground vehicle with a hybrid powertrain running on electricity with a diesel generator for charging the battery; it is designed to support an infantry squad in any terrain or climate. The vehicle’s compact dimensions allow it to be airlifted to combat zones; a V-22 Osprey is able to carry two of them and the Army’s CH-47 is able to carry six. Its modular design and 1-ton payload capacity allow Marines to convert the Hunter WOLF between a wide variety of configurations. HDT had one set up as a logistics vehicle and another with a remote weapons system at Modern Day Marine; other payload packages are designed for reconnaissance, engineering, and even anti-tank missions. The vehicle is controlled using a small wireless remote or can even be set to autonomously follow dismounted infantry.

The Hunter WOLF has seen use in the Australian Outback as a sort of robotic farmhand, allowing one remote operator to safely and comfortably perform the work of many people in less time. The Marine Corps is currently testing tethered quadcopters powered by the Hunter WOLF’s onboard generator. More information is available at hdtglobal.com/series/hunter-wolf/.

Oshkosh Defense/Pratt miller EMAV

Oshkosh Defense also brought an unmanned ground vehicle to the show. In development for six years by their subsidiary Pratt Miller Defense in conjunction with QinetiQ, the EMAV (Expeditionary Modular Autonomous Vehicle) is much larger and more than twice as heavy as the Hunter WOLF but retains a similar low profile. It travels on rubber tracks at more than 50 miles per hour over flat ground and can be carried internally aboard the V-22 Osprey and other military transport aircraft. The EMAV can be rapidly reconfigured in the field with more than 40 different mission packages and can carry up to 3 tons. Its software allows it to operate with many types of remote controllers or drive itself with varying levels of autonomy.

Like the Hunter WOLF, the EMAV is designed to support dismounted infantry by carrying supplies and providing electrical power even when no mission package is installed. While moving, its onboard generator can produce up to 3.4 kW of power on a low-voltage rail to charge batteries for optics, night vision devices, laser aiming modules, and other electronics Marines carry. While stationary, the EMAV can output up to 30 kW on its high-voltage rail to help power a small forward operating base.

Oshkosh has delivered four EMAVs to the Army and six to the Marine Corps, which are currently undergoing testing at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. The Army has been running the EMAV through its Robotic Combat Vehicle–Light (RCV-L) trials program. More information is available at https://www.qinetiq.com/.

Maztech Industries X4-FCS

Irvine, Calif.,-based engineering company Maztech Industries made a big splash this year with their X4-FCS device, a weapon-mounted ballistic computer. They brought two units to Modern Day Marine to show off their capabilities.

Developed in collaboration with Magpul, the X4-FCS consists of a ballistic computer integrated into a conventional 30 mm or 34 mm scope mount, designed for use with a low-power variable optic (LPVO) such as the Marine Corps’ new Squad Day Optic (SDO). Powered by two CR123 or four 18650 batteries, it projects a digital overlay into the objective lens of whatever scope is mounted to it to provide more information to the shooter at a glance. The X4-FCS can be programmed in the field with profiles for up to 25 different ammunition types; using atmospheric sensors, it can update its reticle in real time based on the exact ballistic characteristics of each round to show how far it will drop at a given distance. The unit can also sense its own pitch and roll to allow it to compensate for the angle at which the rifle is held. With an optional laser rangefinder attached, the X4-FCS can even display a marker to show exactly where to aim to hit the target—all without the shooter taking his or her eye off the target.

The modular design of the X4-FCS makes it compatible with any rifle scope of the correct size and allows different electronics packages to be added on if newer optical devices, such as better sensors and rangefinders, are ever developed. Maztech is currently working with Magpul on a “smart” magazine which will count the number of rounds inside and tell the X4-FCS what type of ammunition is loaded so it can automatically adjust the reticle for different ballistic properties. To learn more, check maztechindustries.com/x4-fcs.

Magpul Industries

Magpul had a large display this year with many of their new and popular civilian products. Since 2016, a variant of its PMAG GEN M3 has been approved by the Marine Corps as a replacement for old Colt-pattern aluminum “G.I.” magazines to feed the M16A4, M4, and M27. In fact, the updates made between the second generation and current third generation of PMAG included a change to the shape of the magazine body to allow compatibility with platforms such as the M27 IAR. Additionally, the PMAG GEN M3 was designed with different feed geometry to present the rounds at a higher angle, allowing use of the M855A1 EPR (Enhanced Performance Round) without damaging rifles’ feed ramps.

Magpul has been producing the PMAG for decades and the Marine Corps has been issuing it as standard equipment for several years; given its excellent track record for reliability in harsh conditions, it appears that the PMAG is here to stay. For more information on Magpul’s new products for this year, check magpul.com/what-s-new.html.

Blue Force Gear

A longtime favorite among military riflemen and civilian shooting enthusiasts across the country, Blue Force Gear had some excellent products to show off at their booth at Modern Day Marine this year. The company already supplies two products to the U.S. military: their famous Vickers sling and a holster for the M320 grenade launcher. Blue Force Gear doesn’t just cut fabric and run sewing machines; they actively work to develop some of the most technologically advanced load-bearing equipment on the market. Their CHLK two-belt system, for example, is advertised to weigh 50 percent less than competing battle belts and is angled and contoured to fit around the wearer’s waist more comfortably with no break-in period.

To manufacture their load-bearing equipment, Blue Force Gear laser-cuts MOLLE-compatible attachment slots out of the material. This design has been gaining popularity in the industry because it allows manufacturers to use fewer pieces of material, making the finished product stronger and lighter.

Blue Force Gear’s website is packed with information on their products as well as the technology that makes them possible. You can learn more at blueforcegear.com/about_us.html.

Trijicon SCO

Trijicon has supplied riflescopes to the U.S. military since 1987 and shows no sign of slowing down. Hundreds of thousands of Marines have used the RCO [Rifle Combat Optics], a variant of the Trijicon ACOG [Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight] TA31F, since its adoption in 2005. Beginning two years ago, however, the Marine Corps has been replacing the RCO on its rifles and MGO [Machine Gun Optic] (another ACOG variant) on machine guns with Trijicon’s new Squad Common Optic (SCO). Whereas the RCO is a prismatic scope with a fixed 4x magnification, the SCO is a low-power variable optic with a magnification range from 1 to 8 power. While its smaller 28 mm objective lens gathers about 25 percent less light, the variable magnification and user-adjustable brightness make it more useful in both close-quarters and long-range engagements in a wider variety of environmental conditions. Trijicon’s representatives say the VCOG [Variable Combat Optical Gunsight] family, of which the SCO is a member, has the same rugged construction as the RCO and is guaranteed completely waterproof to 66 feet. It is also compatible with the same mounts as legacy Trijicon optics, making it a true drop-in solution for any weapons system already equipped with an RCO or MGO.

Trijicon also manufactures a wide range of sighting systems for the law enforcement and civilian markets, ranging from tritium-illuminated iron sights for pistols to long-range precision scopes for hunting and competition. For more information, visit trijicon.com.

Office of Naval Research H-TaRP

Without a doubt, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) had one of the most exciting displays on the show floor. They were demonstrating their hydrogen tactical refueling point (H-TaRP), a version of what they call an expeditionary hydrogen generator, developed with MIT’s Lincoln Laboratories. This device is designed to be used at the company level to produce hydrogen pressurized to 5,000 psi to fuel unmanned aircraft, drive fuel cells to generate electrical power, or inflate balloons to loft radio antennae or reconnaissance payloads. Waste heat from the chemical reaction can be used to cook food, dry wet clothing and perform other useful work.

ONR’s engineers describe the H-TaRP as functioning like a giant gumball machine: a hopper at the top dispenses pellets of specially treated aluminum, which fall down and react with water in the reaction chamber to produce hydrogen, heat and aluminum hydroxide. This is the same chemical reaction which takes place inside the flameless ration heater included in MREs. The aluminum can come from any source, even empty beverage cans, and is first “activated” by heating it to 200°F with a small amount of indium and gallium. Any water will work, even unfiltered seawater, and the leftover aluminum hydroxide is non-toxic.

Three variants of expeditionary hydrogen generator are currently in development: the company-level H-TaRP unit displayed at Modern Day Marine, a smaller version for use at the squad level, and an individual unit for charging batteries and other relatively low-power applications. H-TaRP is currently in testing with II MEF at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and can be carried and set up by two Marines in as little as 13 minutes after just an hour of training. For information on ONR and their programs, check their website at onr.navy.mil.

ONR’s TechSolutions program allows Marines and Sailors to submit requests to develop new technologies to solve specific problems encountered in the field. If the technology can be developed within 12 months and for less than $1 million, the TechSolutions office will work with a network of R&D centers to bring it to fruition. To learn more about the TechSolutions program, go to onr.navy.mil/techsolutions/about.html.
Author’s bio: Sam Lichtman is a college student and licensed pilot. He works part-time as a manager and armorer at a Virginia gun store and occasionally contributes content to Leatherneck. He also has a weekly segment on Gun Owners Radio.

West Coast Base Blends Historic Architecture With the Corps’ Modern Mission

By Barbara McCurtis

Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego is celebrating its 100th birth­­day and its beginnings are quite interesting. Following World War I, San Diego, Calif., was a sleepy border town struggling to establish a stable economic base that would attract new residents and generate prosperity. The main thing the area had going for it was perfect climate.

The city’s chamber of commerce, led by a powerful group of local citizens, began courting the Department of the Navy to select San Diego as its southern Pacific port. Initial efforts were rejected as the Navy did not want to invest in an undeveloped location. The group then began lobbying President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1908, the fleet was passing San Diego on its world tour and the committee made a bold move. They raised more than $20,000 and chartered a fishing boat to take the mayor and a group of directors 600 miles south to intercept the fleet off the coast of Mexico. They pleaded their case on the foredeck of a battleship, and the admirals agreed to stop outside the bay of San Diego as the harbor was too shallow, narrow and dangerous.

When the fleet landed on April 15, 1908, they were greeted with parades, cere­monies, balls, guided tours, dinners and other functions in the homes of prom­inent San Diegans. The visit was such a success the group began to pursue oppor­tunities to improve the harbor. Meanwhile, a rev­olution in Mexico brought the Ma­rines to the area. The United States activated the 4th Marine Regiment to support the existing regime in Mexico. At that time, limited operations had been conducted in many parts of the globe in support of national interests.

In March 1911, the 4th Provisional Brigade, under Colonel Charles A. Doyen, sailed from San Francisco to San Diego where they waited on Navy ships for orders south. After a week of waiting, Doyen and his Marines disembarked on March 20 and set up a temporary camp on North Island they called Camp Thomas, in honor of Rear Admiral Chauncey Thomas, Commander of the Pacific Fleet. North Island was one of two islands that transformed San Diego Harbor from a broad bay, wide open to the Pacific Ocean, into a landlocked harbor on the Pacific Coast. A flat spot of sand and scrub growth, the camp allowed the Marines to conduct physical exercises, close order drill and marches under full packs. Marksmanship training was carried out on a range that had been constructed by First Lieutenant Holland M. Smith.

By the end of May the revolution was over, and the 4th Provisional Regiment was disbanded. In 1912, William Kettner, Director of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, was elected to Congress. Kettner used his new position to find federal funding and eventually persuaded Congress to appropriate $238,000 to dredge San Diego Harbor. This was an important first step in making San Diego a Navy town.

Trouble with Mexico occurred again in 1914, and the 4th Regiment was in camp on North Island under the command of Colonel Joseph H. Pendleton. Col Pendleton saw San Diego as a strategic point for the Marines to train and embark quickly for expeditionary duty. He was not alone in this idea; Marine officers had been recommending a permanent advance base regiment since 1911.

In camp on North Island, Col Pendleton took every opportunity to generate sup­port for the Marine Corps. Interested in local affairs, he rarely turned down an invitation to attend civic functions. He held an open house every Tuesday and Thursday and hosted the regiment parade for public viewing.

Pendleton’s presence in the city is well-documented in the photographs of the Panama California International Exposition as well as more than 15 articles written on him in the local newspapers. He was sought after as a speaker for civic engagements and soon became a close associate of local leaders to include Congressman Kettner, who became a strong advocate for a permanent Marine Corps installation in San Diego. Before and during the exposition, Kettner pre­pared the city for new military installations when he deepened the harbor and added a coal wharf and fuel oil station and a Navy radio station in Point Loma.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, inspected the area in April 1914 and recommended San Diego as the site for an advanced base. His proposal was approved and the 4th Regiment, ordered ashore at San Diego for an indefinite stay, became the nucleus of the West Coast advance base force. The Marines remained in Balboa Park after the Panama-California Exposition ended, and leased buildings that were part of the exposition and used them for barracks, work spaces and offices.

The 1916 Naval Appropriation Act ap­proved $250,000 to purchase 232 acres of tidal land abutting Dutch Flats, where the San Diego River frequently emptied into San Diego Bay. Dutch Flats was a low-lying marsh near downtown that was covered with water at high tide. Con­gressman Kettner had a home that overlooked the eyesore that was Dutch Flats, and he convinced Pendleton that Dutch Flats was the perfect spot for the Marine base. The San Diego airport was also in Dutch Flats. The airport would be dedicated in 1928, but by 1934 it was crowded with two flying schools; United, American and Western Airlines; Ryan Aircraft and the Marines. Located in the center of the city, the airport’s proximity to downtown gives it little room to ex­pand due to lack of land space and the environmental impact of neighboring communities.

May 15, 1917, reported that Congress had appropriated $250,000 to pay for the land for the Marine base. On Dec. 1, 1921, Col Pendleton raised the flag and the base officially opened. The new San Diego base was the Marine Corps’ first purpose-built installation. Prior to this, Marines were tenants in Navy Yards or occupied former Army or Navy installations and either expanded or remodeled them for their own purposes. The architect for the new base was Bertram Goodhue, the principal designer for the Panama-California Ex­position buildings in Balboa Park.

The original land parcel that abutted Dutch Flats was 232 acres. Eleven dif­ferent land acquisitions from 1916 to 1942 state the base acquired 890 acres. In 1948 the Marines relinquished 245 acres to the airport for construction of a new terminal. The proximity to the airport has created what one commanding general referred to as the San Diego Pause; that interval of time when multiple planes are taking off and individuals speaking outdoors must stop speaking.

Goodhue’s original plan for the base used the Spanish Colonial Revival style architecture featured in the exposition and called for 46 buildings according to a Los Angeles Times report in 1919. The barracks would be linked by a great arcade facing the parade ground; secondary structures would form a long axis behind the arcade creating a series of courtyards. Six major support buildings and small utility structures were completed from 1922 to 1923. During the 1920s and 1930s, the primary function of the base was supporting Marine Corps expeditionary operations. In August of 1923 that changed when the Marine Corps Recruit Training Depot for the West Coast relocated from Marine Barracks, Navy Yard on Mare Island.

The first group of recruits arrived in San Diego on USS Sirius (AK-18). Major E.P. Moses was the officer in charge of recruit training. At that time, the recruit depot had three departments: the recruit detachment, which consisted of all the recruits in training; the personnel section; and the recruit depot detachment which was made up of the depot’s permanent personnel and Sea School. The 4th Reg­iment, nicknamed “San Diego’s Own,” was serving on expeditionary duty and did not return to San Diego until 1924.

In 1924, the base was redesignated Ma­rine Corps Base, Naval Operating Base, San Diego and served as the headquarters for Observation Squadron One, the oldest organized air unit in the Marine Corps. Aircraft were stationed across the bay at North Island Naval Air Station at Coronado, Calif. An emergency expansion of the base began in September 1939 with construction of 27 new storehouses, a defense battalion barracks, mess facilities, hundreds of 16-man prefabricated metal huts for the recruit depot, post exchange, recruit parade ground, neuro-psychiatric building, dental and dispensary quarters, new roads, and a railroad. When the De­partment of the Navy authorized the Ma­rine Corps Women’s Reserve in 1942, several buildings were constructed to house and support female Marines. The first Woman Reserve (WR) officer as­sumed her duties the week of Sept. 25 and by the end of 1943, 187 WRs were sta­tioned on base. When World War II ended, the base focused on demobilization for thousands of Marines returning from the Pacific. WW II had a significant impact on the area; by 1942 San Diego’s popula­tion swelled so much in a single year that it surpassed the projected pop­ulation growth for the next two decades. A large portion of the new arrivals were military personnel and their families.

In 1948 recruit training became the principal tenant, and the base was re­designated Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. The Korean War in the 1950s resulted in a need for housing for returning reserve Marines and new recruits. Tents were assembled on the parade deck for billeting, and the base also built hundreds of Quonset huts. The 270 corrugated galvanized steel huts were in the western area of the base with 180 additional huts located adjacent to the parade deck. Each hut housed 24 recruits.

The depot also served as a staging area for reserve Marines recalled to active duty for the Korean War. The Marines were quickly processed through medical, legal and administrative procedures on and then transported to Camp Pendleton to join new units. The units would eventually be shipped out from San Diego’s Broadway pier as they had during WW II. Col Pendleton’s foresight for the base to be quickly able to support expeditionary needs had proved true.

President John F. Kennedy visited the base on June 6, 1963. A pair of brass foot­prints were created on the site where he stood, with his feet at a 45-degree angle, just as Marine recruits stand on the yellow footprints at the start of recruit training. Dating back to at least June of 1963, gen­­erations of recruits have started their Marine Corps training by standing on the yellow footprints painted outside the receiving building at the Recruit Training Regiment.

The rapid construction of facilities for recruits occurred on the depot during WW II, Korea and Vietnam. In 1967, con­struction began on the first two of five new per­manent “H-style” barracks. Each barrack was three stories high and was designed to house 900 recruits. The depot used the Quonset huts and tents to house the large number of men reporting due to the draft before the barracks were completed.

The end of the Vietnam War and sub­sequent fewer recruits in training meant changes on the depot. In 1972, the final H-style barracks were completed, and 242 Quonset Huts were demolished two years later. In 1976 the correctional facility was demolished, and Recruit Training Reg­iment moved into offices on the arcade vacated after Communication and Elec­tronic School moved to Twentynine Palms in 1975.

The depot has had as many as five Ma­rine Corps schools as tenants over the years. Sea School was a tenant from 1921 until its closure in December 1987. In 1965, Field Music School consolidated with a like unit at Parris Island. Recruiters School was established on Parris Island in 1947 and San Diego opened its school in 1971. The two schools eventually were consolidated in San Diego in 1972. Both depots have had their own drill instructor schools since WW II.

The needs of the Marine Corps have always ruled the demolition and con­struction of buildings and tenant com­mands on the depot. In 1976 the depot was redesignated Marine Corps Recruit Depot and Western Recruiting Region after the addition of the recruiting head­quarters. Women were no longer in sep­arate companies and the new enlisted barracks model of two person rooms was developed. By 1985, the Women Ma­rine and Staff Noncommissioned officer barracks were demolished.

In 1987, Headquarters Marine Corps directives increased recruit training in support of basic warrior training. General Alfred M. Gray, the 29th Commandant, was looking for more meaningful physical exercises such as forced marches and confidence courses.
In 1988 the base opened a Command Museum and to this day, the recruits receive history classes taught by docents, most of whom are retired Marines. The docents use the displays in the museum to reinforce Ma­rine Corps history lessons. New Marines escort their families through the museum retelling the history they have learned from the docents on every Family Day.

In 1991, 25 buildings aboard the base were added to the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to the build­ings, 110 acres of land including the parade grounds, was delineated the Historic District. The depot was nominated for the register because of the significant archi­tecture and the arcade, a covered walkway north of the parade ground, more than 1 mile long that contains nearly half of the buildings. Other historic places include the commanding general’s residence and garage, four married officer’s quarters and garages, the depot disbursing office, Headquarters and Service Battalion head­quarters, the Command Museum, and the Recruit Training Regiment headquarters.

In 1996, the 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Charles C. Krulak, established “The Crucible.” Gen Krulak called the Crucible “the defining moment in a young Marine’s life.” It is a grueling test every recruit must pass to earn the title “Marine.” The Crucible and rifle range training for recruits are conducted at Weapons Field Training Bat­talion which is part of the Recruit Training Regiment but located on Camp Pendleton.

Rifle range training for recruits had been conducted on Marine Corps Base San Diego which was about 13 miles north of San Diego and built by the Marines in 1916. In 1942 the Secretary of the Navy redesignated it as Camp Calvin B. Matthews. Progressive and continuing growth of the city of San Diego in the vicinity created hazardous conditions and in August 1964 the property was trans­ferred to the Regents of the University of California. Rifle range training was re­located to Weapons Training Battalion at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and formally dedicated as the Edson Range Area Sept. 21, 1965.

Recruits are bused to Weapons Field Training Battalion in their second phase of training for rifle qualification. They live on the base for two weeks and return to San Diego to start the next phase of training. In the last phase of recruit train­ing, recruits are again transported to Weapons Field Training for the Crucible. One distinctive aspect of the MCRD San Diego Crucible is “The Reaper,” the grueling steep ridge of rugged terrain that recruits hike carrying 55-pound packs to conclude the event.

New facilities constructed in the early 2000s have energy efficient designs that save money. Physical training fields feature artificial turf cutting down on water use. In September 2007 a new 47,360 square foot Recruit Clothing Issue facility consolidated five facilities in one location. The building has four uniform alteration bays, phase lines for clothing issue, administrative offices for staff, a high-bay warehouse, and a DI lounge.

In 2009 construction of two new bar­racks, a recruit rehabilitation facility, and several independent restrooms were planned as part of the Grow the Force Initiative. The project was part of $175 million awarded to MCRD to upgrade facilities. The upgrades allow the Depart­ment of Defense to utilize the base in the case of a large war or natural disaster. The new barracks were designed with “Black/Grey” water recycling, energy saving elec­tronic monitoring systems, separate laundry facilities and a local area network.

Major changes also have affected the training schedule with the start of inte­grated training in 2020. Three female Marines completed DI school at MCRD San Diego for the first time in December, 2020. In February 2021 the first female recruits reported for training and grad­uated in May. The second in­tegrated class started training Oct. 29, 2021 and is scheduled to graduate Jan. 21, 2022.

Integrated training and new efficient facilities are signs of the future. That they take place on this space created 100 years ago is a blend of old and new. The San Diego Chamber of Commerce was seeking a new path for the city in 1911 when it pursued the Navy. When the exposition broke ground in 1911, San Diego was an optimistic, progressive metropolis of almost 40,000 people.

The chamber of com­merce directors were correct: military bases produce pos­itive economic impact. Military-re­lated spending in San Diego County grew by 5.4 percent in 2021. An annual report released by the San Diego Mil­itary Advisory Council reported that government spending associated with the defense industry in San Diego amounts to 25 percent of the local economy. That same report claimed almost 350,000 jobs can be attributed to the defense industry. About 23 percent of the total labor force in the region works, directly or indirectly, in service of the military.

The relationship between MCRD San Diego and the surrounding community has changed over the years. Urban en­croachment has been held at bay yet remains in the background. Friday parades are still popular with visitors. Training methods may change, but the mission of making Marines remains. The iconic architecture of Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego is a historic place, one that echoes with the memories of 100 years of marching feet and cadence calls.Author’s bio: Barbara McCurtis served in the Marine Corps from 1976-1998, retiring as a first sergeant. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and worked for a weekly paper. After earning a master’s degree in public history, she was a curator for the San Diego Hall of Champions Sports Museum and served as the director of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Command Museum. Prior to retirement in 2018, she was the MCRD Historian and the History In­spector for the Commanding Generals Inspection Program.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, due to the increasing COVID cases in the national Capitol Region, the 41st Modern Day Marine Exposition was cancelled.

At the Crossroads of Force Design

WHERE WE ARE GOING: Providing a Forum to Communicate Service-Level Messages and Institutional Priorities to Key Publics and Stakeholders That Will Support Future Force Design EffortsWhile bringing the show to the Marines has been a MDMME tradition for 30 years, during the winter and early spring of 2020, General David H. Berger, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, chartered an Operational Planning Team to evaluate the increasingly vital role of the event as a key enabler for Force Design 2030, the Marine Corps’ 10-year plan to optimize its structure and capabilities for modern operations. The most significant outcome of this Headquarters Marine Corps evaluation was the decision to move the 42nd MDMME to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., where it will take place from May 10-12, 2022.

Lieutenant General Mark Faulkner, USMC (Ret), former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Marine Corps Association, said the move is necessary. “While Quantico is the crossroads of the Corps, Modern Day Marine is at the crossroads of the whole of government process to plan, program, develop and deploy the layered and integrated capabilities which underpin our national security strategy and the Marine Corps’ role within it as the nation’s premier expeditionary force.”

In addition to sustaining dialogue with industry on capabilities that will catapult the Corps into the future, including long-range precision fires, advanced reconnaissance capabilities, unmanned systems, and the resilient networks which encapsulate the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) concept, the MDMME will become a premium venue for demonstrating to Congress and the wider Department of Defense community that major change in existing force structure and ways of doing business are needed in this era of renewed Great Power Competition. Through an enhanced and diversified lineup of presentations, structured networking activities and technology demonstrations, the event will demonstrate the advantage of persistent, survivable units that operate as a component of the Joint Force, as well as by, with, and through our allies and partners, to provide the fleet and joint force commander with a stand-in component possessing the organic mobility and dispersion to compete and deter in a future operating environment characterized by a maturing and proliferating precision strike regime.

WHERE WE ARE GOING: Providing a Forum to Communicate Service-Level Messages and Institutional Priorities to Key Publics and Stakeholders That Will Support Future Force Design EffortsWhile bringing the show to the Marines has been a MDMME tradition for 30 years, during the winter and early spring of 2020, General David H. Berger, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, chartered an Operational Planning Team to evaluate the increasingly vital role of the event as a key enabler for Force Design 2030, the Marine Corps’ 10-year plan to optimize its structure and capabilities for modern operations. The most significant outcome of this Headquarters Marine Corps evaluation was the decision to move the 42nd MDMME to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., where it will take place from May 10-12, 2022.

Lieutenant General Mark Faulkner, USMC (Ret), former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Marine Corps Association, said the move is necessary. “While Quantico is the crossroads of the Corps, Modern Day Marine is at the crossroads of the whole of government process to plan, program, develop and deploy the layered and integrated capabilities which underpin our national security strategy and the Marine Corps’ role within it as the nation’s premier expeditionary force.”

In addition to sustaining dialogue with industry on capabilities that will catapult the Corps into the future, including long-range precision fires, advanced reconnaissance capabilities, unmanned systems, and the resilient networks which encapsulate the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) concept, the MDMME will become a premium venue for demonstrating to Congress and the wider Department of Defense community that major change in existing force structure and ways of doing business are needed in this era of renewed Great Power Competition. Through an enhanced and diversified lineup of presentations, structured networking activities and technology demonstrations, the event will demonstrate the advantage of persistent, survivable units that operate as a component of the Joint Force, as well as by, with, and through our allies and partners, to provide the fleet and joint force commander with a stand-in component possessing the organic mobility and dispersion to compete and deter in a future operating environment characterized by a maturing and proliferating precision strike regime.

THE MDMME SPONSORS: The Marine Corps League and the Marine Corps Association—A Stable Foundation for the EnterpriseThe MDMME is the most significant annual undertaking in fulfilment of the complementary chartered missions of the Marine Corps League and Marine Corps Association, two organizations single-mindedly dedicated to the professional development, advocacy and outreach activities which support our Corps, its Marines, and the veteran community, as intended by their common founder, the 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps, LtGen John A. Lejeune, the visionary leader who is celebrated to this day as a principal architect of the expeditionary character and ethos of the Corps as we know it.

The Marine Corps League is a national organization of more than 60,000 members and more than 1,000 community-based detachments in its 96th year as the federally chartered nonprofit advocate and veterans’ service organization for the United States Marine Corps. As SgtMaj Johnny Baker, USMC (Ret), the 64th National Commandant and CEO of the Marine Corps League, said, “We are a body of citizens transformed by service to Corps and country who provide daily community examples of the values that will inspire the next generation to earn the title and cultivate the resilience imperative to the proposition of an inside force.”

In 2020, the Marine Corps Association formally joined with the MCL as co-sponsors of the MDMME. In doing so, the MCA brought its 107-year pedigree as the professional association of the Marine Corps, dedicated to leader development and recognition of professional excellence, front and center by initiating closer cooperation with Marine Corps leadership to sharpen the focus of the conceptual design, as well as the scope and quality of presentation content for the event.

“The Marine Corps Association sees the MDMME as a natural extension of its mission to support the Marine Corps in the development of collaborative, cross disciplinary Marine leaders who prioritize learning. By cultivating a desire to know, a bias for identifying gaps in conceptual knowledge, and the intellectual tools to design questions which deliver understanding, we will continue to place the future of the force in capable hands,” said Colonel Chris Woodbridge, USMC (Ret), Editor and Publisher of Marine Corps Gazette, the professional journal of the United States Marine Corps.
Editor’s note: The presentations and panel discus­sions of the 2021 MDMME will be available to view on demand through the MCA website: www.mca-marines.org. Photos courtesy of LtCol Alex Hetherington, USMC (Ret).

Author’s bio: LtCol Alex Hetherington is a retired Marine aviator, primarily serving with the squadrons of MAG-39 flying the AH-1W heli­copter. He is the show director of the Marine Military Expos, sponsored by the Marine Corps League and the Marine Corps Association.