Red Shift/Green Shift: Problems with Training and Education Command's Education Continuum

摘要

Two dissimilar visions for the future of warfare have broken out within the Marine Corps. Marine Corps leaders, who ascribe to these respective visions, have aligned themselves with the disparate education theories resident in TECOM. The theories are vocational-based learning, embodied in Training Command, and the more cognitive-based professional military education, embodied in Education Command. Currently, these poles in education theory work in a continuum. As entry-level Marines progress through their careers, the training focus shifts from skills-based vocational training to an intellectual-based education. This organizational tension has created a strain that manifests itself on the ends of the continuum by placing a greater emphasis on education with entry-level Marines, which one can term a 'red shift,' or vocational training with senior Marines, which one can term a 'green shift.' Unless our Corps better defines its future vision of warfare, TECOM will squander resources while mired in the red shift versus green shift debate.