With the Iraq war ending and an Afghanistan exit in sight, the Marine Corps is beginning a historic shift — a return to its roots as a seafaring force that will get smaller, lighter and, it hopes, less bogged down in land wars.
This moment of change happens to coincide with a reorienting of American security priorities to the Asia-Pacific region, where China has been building military muscle during a decade of U.S. preoccupation in the greater Middle East. That suits the Marines, who see the Pacific as a home away from home.
After two turns at combat in Iraq — first as invaders in the 2003 march to Baghdad and later as occupiers of landlocked Anbar province — the Marines left the country in early 2010 to reinforce the fight in southern Afghanistan. Over that stretch the Marines became what the former Joint Chiefs chairman, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, has called their own “worst nightmare:” a second American land army, a static, ground-pounding auxiliary force.
The Corps has always been an expeditionary force, lean from tooth to tail and immediately on-call for a broad spectrum of military operations. Getting out of static encampments and back to sea to serve as America’s 9/11 9-1-1 force is a good idea.
We don’t need two land armies, but we do need Marines.
“Getting out of static encampments and back to sea to serve as America’s 9/11 force is a good idea.”
It’s 9-1-1, NOT 9/11.
And yes, getting back to their original mission can do nothing but good for the Corps if for no other reason than to put an end to the #*%@# idea of “blending” them into the Army. While there are no longer yardarms for them to man with their muskets there will always be a need and use for warfighters already on board ships circling the globe.
stay safe.
Do we read this one in conjunction with the above “Headline of the day” ?
I’m strongly in favor of maintaining the Marine’s forced entry capability, and further see them as something of a quick reaction strategic reserve. While “blooding” them in Iraq/Afghanistan to some extent might have been worthy in its own right, keeping a large portion of them tied down with operations there has always struck me as silly.
XBradTC, Agree totally with your considered assessment of the current mal-assignment of the Marines in Iraq & Afghanistan…( observed a similar situation in RVN )…
… a refreshing position indeed from the typical, expected and actual reactions of the Oorah knuckleheads around here… you know who you are…who revert, when at a loss to contribute anything constructive, to denigrating the senior service. Best
Semper Fi to my Devil Dog Brothers…..Get some !
First to fight !!! Glad I had them along when I had to go to places like Fallujah, Helmand and other dusty, sh-tty places.
Methinks there is a joke in there somewhere. I ask you whom do the Taliban fear more than anyone else, including the US Army? The Marines, that’s who. Why? Because they are the meanest, toughest, nastiest land combat force in Afghanistan. Sure the SEALs and Special Forces may do as much good, but the Marines strike real fear into our enemies. The Taliban has wearied of fighting them, (so much so that they beg not to be called to attack them) but not wearied so much of fighting the Army, who has ROE’d themselves into trouble on more than one occasion.
ADM Mullen was a fine Chairman. But a rocket scientist, he ain’t. I agree with letting them get back to their primary mission, which is training and planning to kill Commies invading Taiwan, Japan, or the Philippines. I agree with letting them be the on call emergency response force. I also agree with using them to kill and strike fear into our enemies anywhere, anytime, for as long as it takes.
Subsunk
I hope you are being sarcastic about Mullen because the man was an idiot as was the CNO.
Yeah, I didn’t think much of the man, but at least he seemed honest. Not smart. Honest.
“I ask you whom do the Taliban fear more than anyone else, including the US Army?”
DEVGRU
My point is that while this may be true, there just aren’t enough men in DEVGRU to do the job we need. Targeted killing works, but only if you target enough Taliwhacker leadership. When the Japs used to crawl into US foxholes at night, slit one throat and leave his comrade to find him the next day, that was fearsome and unnerving. We overcame that fear through the use of Marines, who gave better than they got.
Nothing against DEVGRU. But there ain’t enough of them. The Marines are mean, loud and obnoxious. And there’s a metric butt-ton of them compared to the Taliban (even when they are outnumbered 10 to 1). They are tougher than the Taliban and al Qaeda each and every day they draw a breath, and they make it their mission to either win over or kill our enemies. And nothing can beat that combination in war…. I am so sick of hearing we were making more enemies than we were killing from 2004 to 2008 I could spit. If that was true, then we weren’t killing near enough Taliban, Iraqis and Islamists. Religion can do a lot of things. But it can’t stop the USMC, nor should it.
“We don’t need two land armies, but we do need Marines.”
Correction:
We don’t need two land armies, but we do need to land Marines.
Almost every time, we need to land Marines. And our enemies shudder.
Semper Fi!
Mike
I attended a lot of football games in Annapolis from 02-06. The Marines always had a tent. I would walk far around the Marine tent because they scared me. And, I am on their side!
Semper Fi you guys. I hope to never be in your cross hairs…