Small War Manual and Marine Corps Military Operations Other Than War Doctrine

On 28 March 2001, the United States Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory's embedded "think tank" the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities, announced its intentions for developing a follow-on volume of the Small Wars Manual. This Small Wars Volume II intends to serve as a reference publication despite that the original manual was authoritative doctrine and that current Military Operations Other Than War guidance is either in a "Concept in Development" or "Awaiting Development" status. Thus this thesis answers: Does the Small Wars Manual series present a relevant baseline for the United States Marine Corps (USMC) to further develop its future MOOTW doctrine? The following supporting questions require examination: (1) Why did the original SWM erode from serving as USMC MOOTW authoritative doctrine to that of general reference and historical material? (2) What does the SWM offer Twenty-first Century Marine Corps MOOTW doctrine? (3) What does the SWM Volume II intend to offer Twenty-first Century Marine Corps MOOTW doctrine? The thesis concludes, among other things, that indeed the SWM series deserves significant consideration for serving as Navy and Marine Corps authoritative MOOTW doctrine with the Small Wars Manual retaining its Marine Corps Reference Publication (MCRP) designation and its follow-on volume serving as a Navy and Marine Corps authoritative doctrinal.