The manual states that “maneuver relies on speed and surprise, for without either we cannot concentrate strength against enemy weakness.” The modern cavalry can take various forms and has largely followed the evolution of mobility: ranging from horses to wagons and from motorized vehicles to armored trucks and tanks (armored cavalry). The Marine Corps should find comfort in knowing that the notion of the cavalry closely resonates with the essence of combined arms maneuver captured in its famed treatise on maneuver warfare, Warfighting. The Spirit of the Cavalry in the Marine Corps It would also offer a tangible capability to help support vulnerable allies and partners against China and Russia. The development of this capability would improve the operational value of the Marine Corps in the Indo-Pacific and other key maritime terrain throughout the globe. The goal should be to enhance the service’s concept of stand-in forces and any future combat formation. Such a maritime cavalry must be organically mobile and capable of offensive action to serve as a commander’s arm of shock and firepower and real-time information gathering.Īs part of Force Design 2030’s “ Campaign of Learning,” the service should experiment with cavalry principles and maritime cavalry units during exercises and war games. For reconnaissance, they could probe enemy defenses on remote islands or waterways and act as live sensors. They could occupy key maritime chokepoints until a larger fleet arrives. For defense, they could help protect friendly forces on islands or at sea with modified screening, guarding, covering, and delaying actions.
Their flexibility would allow them to sow chaos and confusion as needed and exploit friendly successes in other areas of the battlespace. Like traditional ground cavalry, a maritime cavalry should be able to attack, pursue, harass, raid, and break through enemy formations in littoral spaces. War Department’s 1941 Cavalry Field Manual describes their historic and enduring missions as offensive combat, defensive combat, reconnaissance, counter-reconnaissance, and security. Their central feature is the ability to provide friendly forces with exceptional mobility and firepower against enemy weaknesses at the right place and the right time. Cavalry units operate across wide areas and great distances and serve as the eyes and ears of a field commander.
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