Research Interests

Mike Morris is a doctoral student in U.S. military history with developed interests in campaigning, corps-level tactics, amphibious operations, counterinsurgency, and military government.  His research examines the role played by the senior Marine headquarters, III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF), in the northern five provinces of South Vietnam (I Corps) between 1965 and 1971.  This contested region featured the bloodiest fighting with the North Vietnamese Army, the strongest Viet Cong infrastructure, the disputed border with North Vietnam, key portions of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and the political and economic prizes of Hue and Da Nang.  The project evaluates how III MAF prepared for its role in Vietnam as a corps-level command element, how it conducted and coordinated combat and pacification operations in I Corps, and how it evolved as a warfighting headquarters.

Accomplishments

• Colonel, USMC (Ret)   {active duty 1985-2015)
• Director, Marine Corps University School of Advanced Warfighting  (2011-2015)
• Commanding Officer, Expeditionary Warfare Training Group, Atlantic (2009-2011)
• G-9 (Civil Military Operations), First Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), Anbar Province, Iraq (2008)