Two retired Marine generals are concerned about the radical changes being pushed through the Marine Corps. I believe their concerns are justified. Why wasn't the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) tapped to provide capabilities the Marines are being torn apart to provide?
Two retired Marine generals have concerns about Marine transformation:
We believe the Marine Corps is at a crossroads. Senior leaders need to look closely at the numbers and types of missiles the Corps is procuring and where in the Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEF) they will reside. We also believe the Marine Corps is currently imbalanced. It will soon have too many relatively obsolete missiles and currently has too few traditional combined arms weapons. In today’s unstable world, the requirement for global, expeditionary crisis response forces is more critical than ever.
Yeah, I've wondered if the Marines are eliminating traditional combat capabilities without even getting the anti-ship capabilities they insist are needed. I'm not sure what the new Marines can do.
The article at least informed me that the Marines are aiming to get more anti-ship missiles than it seemed like the Marines were deploying. But other services want missiles from the same limited production lines. And many of the missiles may soon be target drones for a capable enemy.
I will repeat my advice that the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command should provide the anti-ship capabilities to support the Navy.
Instead of ripping apart the [Marine] infantry regiments, I'd turn to the [Navy]* Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) for the anti-ship and anti-air mission. Create a number of anti-ship and coastal defense battalions, able to parcel out batteries and sections to the Marines. Perhaps the NECC is too small now to provide the infantry component. Or perhaps it is better to simply let the Marines provide their quality infantry instead of pushing the NECC that far.
If that is the case, the Marine Division's two infantry regiments and artillery regiment would be adapted but kept intact. They would create platoons and companies of mixed infantry, anti-ship, anti-aircraft, and general purpose artillery, drawn from the the infantry regiments, artillery regiment, and NECC.
And then we discuss how the Hell we keep these detachments from withering on the vine. I'd revive the APD armed transport ship to deploy and move them (in Proceedings).
The debate cannot be deemed over.
*Oops. "Navy" wrongly evolved to "Naval" in that post.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War in this post.
