War on the Rocks6 Huhti 2020

A Chat with the Commandant: Gen. David H. Berger on the Marine Corps' New Direction

As listeners of this podcast know, the Marine Corps is taking a new direction. The latest document to lay out this vision is Force Design 2030. The commandant, Gen. David H. Berger, aims to cut the size of the Marine Corps and let go of some legacy systems (most notably tanks) in order to -- in the words of a recent article in the Economist --- turn the Corps into "a commando-like infantry force with nimbler weapons: drone squadrons will double in number and rocket batteries will triple." In Berger's view, the Marine Corps must make these changes in order to work with the other armed services to deter the People's Republic of China, if necessary, or win a war against it.

Ryan spoke with Berger to get the inside story of these reforms, which he describes as being in their earliest phase. "This is not the end of the journey" he said, "but rather the beginning." And he calls upon more voices to chime in with criticism to ensure the Marine Corps is ready for the future of war.

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The Marine Corps' Plan for the Future of Ground Combat

The Marine Corps just released its plan to fight against adversaries on land and Ryan had the two architects of the plan, Ground Combat Element 2040, on the show to talk about it. They discuss drones,...

26 Elo 40min

Command and Politics in the War Between Moscow and Kyiv

Our intrepid team covers a lot of ground in this episode: the increasing fluidity of the battlefield, drones and air defense, the biting Black Sea campaign, the causes and aftermath of the firing of U...

24 Elo 34min

Inside Iran's Wartime Regime

Afshon Ostovar, one of the leading experts on Iran and the host of the members-only podcast The Iran Reckoning, is joined by War on the Rocks membership editor Kerry Anderson for a state-of-play conve...

19 Elo 36min

A Life in Army Special Operations, from Desert Storm to the Next War

Lt. Gen. (ret.) Francis Beaudette, former commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, joins Ryan to discuss how his family history, service, and books shaped his path into and time...

17 Elo 18min

How Ukraine Put Russia on the Backfoot

Ukraine's expanding use of drones at all ranges has changed the war's momentum. This episode examines how Kyiv is reaching deeper into Russian territory, disrupting operations and logistics as well as...

21 Heinä 29min

How a Team of Marines Built the Corps' FPV Drone Training Program from a Cold Start

Last fall, the U.S. Marine Corps had virtually no first-person view attack drones. That's changed quickly. This episode is about how a team of marines at Weapons Training Battalion at Quantico went fr...

1 Heinä 49min

Is Time on China's Side? Beijing's Taiwan Calculus and the Balance of Power

When is the risk of war the highest? And what should the United States be doing about it? One of the most important but underappreciated questions in international politics is how states think about t...

4 Kesä 50min

What Would Relations with Post-War Russia Look Like?

Rose Gottemoeller joined Ryan in Washington. They discussed how the West might think about relations with Russia once the war with Ukraine ends, as well as nuclear diplomacy and other critical issues....

28 Touko 27min