February 18, 2016, MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Virginia – On Feb. 23-24, 2016 the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory selected a group Marines to attend Force Development 25 during which the Marines will be able to challenge and change the way the Marine Corps thinks.
The Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory’s main job is to identify future challenges and opportunities, develop warfighting concepts, and comprehensively explore options in order to inform the combat development process to meet the challenges of the future operating environment.
“When you look at what we have on paper we should be the best at innovating and adapting, and I did not feel that anymore, so I wanted to provide the correct recommendations that would say here is what we can do to do it a little bit better,” said Capt. Chris Wood, an operations research analyst with Headquarters Marine Corps. “We are at this particular crux were we are coming into a post war period.
“If you look at the Marine Corps history after every major war, we went into a period of a very rapid and expansive innovation, and those innovations are what assured our success.”
The idea for this event started when Col. John Armellino, the G-3 operations officer for the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, and Capt. Chris Wood met and discussed their ideas for the Marines Corps.
“My philosophy on innovation is based upon how junior enlisted and junior officers think, because with the way technology is now and with the differences in narrations I think that the solution for how to win the next war is sitting in a sergeant’s brain, a corporal’s brain or a second lieutenant’s brain,” Wood said.
“The way that we wanted the event to go was to start with the idea that if you want to go forward you have to look back,” said Armellino. “ So we want the Marines to look back on the history of Marine Corps innovation.”
During the symposium, Marines will be able to talk to 50 selected candidates known for their contributions in innovation, including Dr. Williamson Murray, a historian and author; Petty Officer 1st Class Richard Walsh, 2011 Naval Aviation Enterprise Innovator of the year; and Robert Rosenfeld, the CEO of Idea Connection Systems.
“When you are not tapping into 98 percent of your forces cognitive ability, then your missing out on a huge reservoir of talent,” said Armellino. “Any organization that thinks they are using the full effort of their force has already failed.
Those who would like to watch the event live will be able to on Feb 23-24, 2016 at Marines.mil.