Marines dumping their tank units

[Glock9mm1990]

The Marines have just made themselves irrelevant. With this change, all they are good for is ship’s detachments, embassy guards and base defense.


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Congress will have the final say and they usually end up blocking any planned cuts anyways.

[Hank6046]

Congress will have the final say and they usually end up blocking any planned cuts anyways.

True. Thank God we have elected officials that fully understand the scope and nuance of strategic military planning, and with that I give you Congressman of the week (due to HR5717) Hank Johnson from the great state of Georgia.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjG958lZ1KI

[Diamondback]

...I give you Congressman of the week (due to HR5717) Hank Johnson, blight upon the great state of Georgia.

FIFY!

[Hank6046]

FIFY!

Thank you, thank you

[Averageman]

I’m not sure how many Abrams the Marines even have. I was actually surprised they never looked into the tank cannon Stryker variant. It seems like a good fit for the Corp.

No really that is a nightmare beyond anything previously known to man.
The kinks in that system are kinkier than Plato's Retreat on a coke filed Friday night circa 1979.

[mack7.62]

OK here's the elephant in the room, how can the Marines fight the Chinese in the Pacific theater, they are not going to win a stand up land battle. Asymmetric warfare, scatter small groups of Marines with drones and anti-ship rockets across multiple islands and wait until their ships come into range, fire your rockets then E&E. The biggest problem will be that any conflict with China and their first target will be the GPS satellites so those will be off the table.

[Averageman]

You're just not rocking a lot of beach assaults without the help of direct fire.
Tanks on the beach are more fun for Marines than finding sand dollars

[utahjeepr]

I'm still waiting on the crap they promised us in Aliens. Drop ships, the truck, and nukes. High yield nukes deployable by "Jr" NCOs like Cpl Hicks. That is how you update the Corps!

[SeriousStudent]

Fascinating. I'd love to see the reaction at Happy Camp Horno by the Sea.

And regarding 8th Marines, they are moving two battalions to different regiments, deactivating a third battalion along with the 8th Marine Regiment HQ Company.

I actually read CMC's guidance on this - amazing, huh?

Personally, as a former 03, I have a love/hate relationship with our armored brethren. Nice to have around when people are irritated at me. But they have a tendency to view us as small squishy speedbumps, which gives me a sad.

[BoringGuy45]

Sounds like the Corps is tired of being the United States Marine Corps and wants to give being the Royal American Marine Corps a go.

Here's a thought: Maybe that's not a bad idea. Most of the old "send in the Marines" expeditionary and rapid deployment missions are now going to Army airborne units and SOCOM units. The fact that the Corps established the Raiders after decades of the "EVERY marine is elite" doctrine shows that they saw the winds of change blowing after 9/11. In addition, Marine infantry has mostly been used in much the same way that Army infantry is used, and other than guarding embassies and Navy installations, the Corps doesn't really have a niche anymore. Even as far back as WWII, the Army showed that they were also capable of doing amphibious assaults and establishing beachheads.

Perhaps going to the UK/Dutch marine model and becoming lighter and more flexible, conducting smaller scale missions, raids, etc. would make them more valuable in the eyes of politicians. It may be beneficial to establish Marine infantry as an elite unit that takes missions more along the lines of the 82nd Airborne or the Rangers, only with an amphibious emphasis, i.e. while Rangers and paratroopers are used to seize airfields, the marines would primarily be utilized to seize ports, boatyards, and other targets in a coastal area. Basically, they'd take light infantry/special operations missions that require larger units than SEALs or Raiders would use.

Of course, I'm just giving an outsider's perspective.