Marine Corps Interwar Period Innovation and Implications for the Upcoming Post Operation Enduring Freedom Period

The Marine Corps has struggled for survival at least 15 times during its 237-year history. During these times of existential crisis, strong leadership, initiative, and ingenuity have ensured a place for the Marine Corps in America's strategic defense policy. The present day ability to provide amphibious forces deployed continuously worldwide is a direct evolution of the amphibious doctrine developed during the interwar period between World War I and World War II. The Marine Corps' ability to provide such forces was a key reason it avoided absorption into the Army. Likewise, the capabilities those forward deployed forces provide were a result of a few creative and bold Marines who developed doctrine, tactics, and a way of fighting that has generated combat forces that are relevant throughout the spectrum of conflict. The most innovative of periods came at the most critical moments for the Marine Corps. Products that were generated during those crisis moments have had a disproportionate impact on American military might during subsequent wars and conflicts. With an examination of Marine Corps organizational activities between WWI, WWII, and the Korean War interwar period trends emerge. These trends can be extrapolated within the strategic context of each period and compared to the upcoming interwar period that will occur once the war in Afghanistan is concluded. The question remains as to whether the Marine Corps is institutionally prepared to address upcoming challenges in the way it did in previous interwar periods.