Section 21 (Ef-21)

Expeditionary Force 21 (EF-21) provides a new operational concept that prepares the Marine Corps for the challenges of the future operating environment. In a future environment that blurs the line between state and non-state actors armed with modern technology that eliminates the U.S.’s technological advantage, the Marine Corps must be able to provide “the right force in the right place at the right time.”(pg 4,8) While staying true to the Maine Corps’ expeditionary nature, it focuses on maintaining a force with a focus on crisis response and theater security operations, but is flexible enough to operate across the full Range of Military Operations (ROMO). (pg 5,7) This new capstone concept replaces the previous future operating concept , “Marine Corps Vision and Strategy 2025.” pg4 It does not change the mission of the Marine Corps, but provides a lens to focus guidance and assessment during the reshaping of the force, experimentation, future planning, and programming decisions. The overall goal is to provide better support to the Geographic Combatant Commanders (GCC) (pg 4).
The document breaks out two distinct parts, the overall concept and its implementation. The first half describes the purpose and intent of EF-21, while outlining its
However, based on assessments of the future operating environment, EF-21 shifts the focus to theater security cooperation and crisis response operations while maintaining the ability to operate across the ROMO. By preparing a force that is “forward, ready, and flexible,” the Marine Corps can provide the GCCs an immediate and scalable response capability that can operate equally well across all domains. (pg 10,11) In order to accomplish this, the EF-21 focuses on four lines of effort: Refine Forces, Adjusting Our Force Posture, Increase Naval Integration, and Enhance Littoral