I am actually rather fond of the newer manuals, since they assume that the readers are not stupid and will be using them as a foundation for further development and study.

I would actually think that Mattis views these as extensions of the Marine Warfighting manuals, which are designed to provide a common framework and reference and NOT be taken as definitive doctrine. One of the biggest challenges we face with COIN and similar issues is the fact that the majority of our armed forces were not trained for this sort of environment or even exposed to thought about it until Iraq.