There is a proposal to get Australia to request more of a U.S. Marine Corps presence in Australia.
America long ago began a process of rotating more and more Marines into Australia. We finally reached a battalion-sized air-ground task force called a Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Australia’s Institute of Public Affairs argued in a report released this week that hosting all those Marines could be the country’s “cheapest boost” to deterrence against adversaries such as China.
“The Australian government should open discussions with the U.S. to host a rotational presence of a Marine Expeditionary Brigade potentially of around 16,000 personnel, bringing with it significant increased firepower and aviation assets,” the report states.
That would be an air-ground Marine Expeditionary Brigade. So not a smaller Marine Littoral Regiment, apparently. And that's the type of unit we'll have in the western Pacific. You'd have to go to America's West Coast for that.
A force that size would be such a major move from California that I don't see it happening any time soon short of war. I mean, how long did it take to work up to a Marine Expeditionary Unit just visiting Australia?
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