Marine initial training is getting much longer in order to provide more proficiency right off the bat.
Training for new Marines will become more rigorous as troops start to conduct more complex operations in smaller units, the commandant told senators Thursday.
“Through [a Marine’s] entry-level training to [his or her] first unit, we have to raise the bar because we’re going to expect noncommissioned officers and junior officers to make decisions that two levels up, they make today,” Gen. David Berger said during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Navy and Marine Corps budget for 2022.
The major point of an article I wrote for the USNI Blog in 2018 was that technology is going to erode the marksmanship advantage the Marines have counted on to dominate infantry combat. "Every Marine a rifleman" is no longer going to cut it.
New weapons that any militia can use to aim with high accuracy should force the Marines to drastically change training to emphasize leadership and tactical skill to maintain tactical dominance. Because even when Marines have those super weapons, enemies will have them too, or at least versions good enough to greatly erode the Marine marksmanship edge.
Is this training change a reaction to the technology change that I described? Or it could simply be that the new model of small dispersed Marine detachments directly supporting the Navy sea control mission is the driving factor. That's actually my guess.
Still, it is a good change for my reasons for wanting it.
