In 1998, I retired from the United States Navy after a 21 plus year career. During my career, I had seen the Navy from the standpoint of an enlisted man and a commissioned officer. And, equally, I had seen the Navy from the cruiser/destroyer ship approach and mindset and also from that of the amphibious ship sailor. I had served on both platforms. In 1992, the United States Navy shifted its operational strategy from a deep blue water Soviet Union threat to a brown water (less than 25 nautical miles) threat that would be expeditionary in nature and character coming from the sea to the littorals. I decided to publish the paper written in 1996 in this blog. It was written while I was student at the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College in Quantico, Virginia. It will be intriguing and interesting to know the comparison and contrasting, the divergence and difference in naval operation back then and now. How much has changed in the Navy? What was the impact of this paper in identifying problems for a future way forward?
