In recent years, the Marine Corps has become obsessed with naval integration, and that’s a good thing. Former Commandant Gen. Robert B. Neller called for greater efforts at naval integration, calling it “Green in support of Blue.”1 In his Commandant’s Planning Guidance, Gen. David Berger echoed that call and labeled naval integration “an imperative.”2 The new Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Michael Gilday, in his confirmation hearing, said that “there is no daylight between us,” referring to himself and Commandant Berger in response to a question about the Marines’ push for closer integration with the Navy. So, with all the calls for integration, where is the Naval Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC)? After all, the Marine Corps itself is a naval expeditionary force according to the Commandant.
I have noted that the Marines are moving from being a partner with the Army in land campaigns (from Vietnam to the Iraq War) to returning to partnership with the Navy:
The Marine Corps is rediscovering its Navy roots. After a long post-Cold War world when the Navy's control of the seas was unthreatened and going inland "... from the Sea" was a given, sea control is now Mission One.
I have assumed that the NECC should be part of this effort, and while not a USNI feature article devoted to the NECC as that author at the top says doesn't exist in Proceedings, I had a whole paragraph in this 2017 Proceedings article (membership required):
The Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) also should be part of the dragon swarm concept. The NECC could create island defense forces of mixed infantry, air defense, and antiship (tube, rocket, and missile) units. Their coastal riverine force patrol boats also would contribute. Used in place of MECs, NECC coastal defense units would hold small islands and force an enemy to operate in an A2/AD environment.
The Marines can adapt a lot of their multi-purpose units so that aircraft and artillery can shoot at ships as well as support ground troops. But if the issue is converting ground combat units to such anti-ship functions, I'd suggest using the NECC instead. Why can't the NECC form island defense units?
NOTE: It is Navy Expeditionary Combat Command.
