Combat Reader is a web based (and potentially smartphone based) speed reading application, developed for the 2017 Commandant's Innovation Challenge.
Combat Reader is a cutting edge tool to foster battlefield readiness in the Information Age. Combat Reader has the potential to improve Marines' reading skills, their overall experience with reading, and subsequently their volume of learning. Many of today's Marines are entering the force with poor reading skills, and most new recruits are accustomed to receiving their information in digital format rather than paper-bound publications. The amount of reading that USMC training and education courses require can seem overwhelming, and a student can easily get trapped in the "vicious circle of the weak reader," where poor reading skills lead to poor comprehension, lack of satisfaction in the reading experience, and consequently little motivation to engage in further reading1.
Most of us read at about 200 words per minute, around the same rate as we can read a passage out loud. Combat Reader works by minimizing (or for advanced readers, eliminating) subvocalization, which is the voice in your head that talks as you read...probably what you are doing right now! This application reduces fatigue, eye fixation (concentrating on only 1 word at a time), and regression (unconsciously going back to words you just read).
A more knowledgeable and confident Marine in the classroom is a bolder and more decisive small unit leader on the battlefield. This is truly an innovative and exciting tool to help all Marines develop a 5,000 year old mind, particularly those from the millennial generation.
In White Letter 4-12, General Amos articulated his frustration that, contrary to our storied intellectual history, the Marine Corps has slowly become an organization that does not value reading. In his Message to the Force 2017, General Neller directed Marines to "Commit to reading more" and to take our professional reading to "another level." Combat Reader is a solution for any Marine at any command to use, and it would be particularly useful at training commands or professional military education courses that have voluminous reading requirements.
Important communications such as the Commandant's White Letter 2-17: Social Media Guidance, ALLMARS, or MARADMINS could also be loaded into Combat Reader for Marines to instantly receive guidance from USMC Headquarters. With very little time and money this beta website could be turned into a mobile app for Marines to download for free on their smartphones or use in a virtual reality headset - completely immersing a Marine into the educational experience. Marines could read at 3 times their normal speed while standing in line for a haircut, eating chow, or in any clime and place where it is difficult to carry hard-copy books.
In other words, Combat Reader makes learning continuous. Combat Reader also engages the natural competitive spirit - Marines reading at 250 words per minute will be motivated to increase to 300 or 500 words per minute. This application provides metrics for success and improvement in ways that traditional reading does not.
Reading is a fundamental building block in the education of Marines. MCWP 6-11 teaches that "[p]rofessional education and reading combined with stressful, realistic training are critical to building the mental experience that leaders can use to recognize patterns, see similarities between experience and new situations, and make rapid decisions in ambiguous situations."2 Reading is of course paramount in Information Age warfare, as Marines are increasingly employing new concepts and systems that require quick learning in order to master. The Harvard Business Review assessed that "[g]eopolitics, business, industries, and jobs are changing so rapidly that it's impossible to predict the capabilities employees and leaders will need even a few years out."3 One of the hallmarks of a successful military in the Information Age is the ability to adapt by learning, both at the individual and institutional levels. Professional reading is the primary method of how we accomplish this learning as Marines.
With so many requirements competing for a unit's time, any tool that can leverage technology and maximize training hours is a huge asset to a commander. Combat Reader can not only condense training time, but it can also improve morale by enhancing an important life skill for every Marine, and especially for young Marines by engaging them on the familiar digital platform. A Marine can easily double or triple their reading speed with just a little practice on this application.
Ultimately, Combat Reader enhances the most important weapon of our small unit leaders, their mind. A more knowledgeable and confident leader makes better decisions under stress and reinforces our Maneuver Warfare mindset that relies on "rapid and opportunistic decision-making and action."
Major David R. Dixon and Major Julio C. Gonzalez designed the Combat Reader application after observing the efficacy of other software based learning tools. This website is currently in beta form as an entry in the 2017 Commandant's Innovation Challenge. We encourage constructive suggestions and comments.
Major David R. Dixon is a Marine Corps AH-1W Cobra pilot, and he serves as the Current Operations Officer at 4th Marine Aircraft Wing. He completed two combat deployments to Iraq, one deployment to Japan, and served on the 15th and 31st MEUs (USS Boxer and USS Essex). David graduated with honors from Texas A&M University, and he earned his master's degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In 2012 the Pat Tillman Foundation selected David as a Tillman Military Scholar, and in 2017 he was named a Presidential Leadership Scholar. His first book, Call in the Air, won the 2014 Robert A. Gannon Award from the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, and his second book, Goodnight Marines, is a current #1 Amazon Best Seller in its category. David has also published essays and letters in a variety of sources such as the Marine Corps Gazette, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. He coauthored two case-studies that were published through Harvard Business School, and he coauthored an award winning research paper titled Making Good Instructors Great: USMC Cognitive Readiness and Instructor Professionalization Initiatives. David has completed Expeditionary Warfare School, and he was the distinguished graduate of his Command and Staff seminar (distance education programs).
Major Julio Gonzalez is an Air Command and Control Officer and a Weapons and Tactics Instructor. He has served as a CH-46E pilot in Iraq, an Air Traffic Control Detachment Commander in Afghanistan, and as the Senior Marine Liaison to the AFCENT CAOC in Qatar. He was responsible for expanding the MCAS Yuma ATC span of control over MCAGCC 29 Palms, and currently serves as the Operations Officer at MTACS-38, MCAS Miramar. His writing has been published in the Marine Corps Gazette and Small Wars Journal, and he was the lead author for a paper titled Remittance and Medicaid - Reforming the Economic Partnership between Latin America and the United States which he presented at the 2014 New England Political Science Association annual conference. He graduated from Penn State University, earned his master's degree at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and he was the distinguished graduate of his Command and Staff seminar (distance education program).
1) Christine Nuttall, Teaching Reading Skills In A Foreign Language, (Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann, 1996)
2) United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps Warfare Publication 6-11: Leading Marines, 2014.
3) Claudio Fernández-Aráoz. "21st-Century Talent Spotting." Harvard Business Review, June 2014.