My outsider/ history nerd view has held that the Corps, like the 82nd, other Airborne units, and pre-9/11 Rangers are our nation's "door knockers." They put us in the fight and execute follow on missions to expand that beachhead/ air head, but anything beyond that is extracurricular; look at the last 20 years and you see a lot of extracurricular activity.
We're kidding ourselves if we think that any unit, conventional or SOF, can sustain all of its core mission sets with a high degree of readiness. There's only so much time in a year, and so much funding, to use for training.
"Near peer" (China, let's be honest) threats are forcing us to focus on mission sets we have largely ignored for two DECADES. The threat has changed, tech has changed, the terrain/ battlespace has changed, and we have to change accordingly.
Will the Commandant's vision survive history? The successful (Mahan) and unsuccessful (Douhet to an extent) alike have shaped warfare well beyond their years. The Marines and AFSOC have gone all in on a vision for 2030 and beyond. When people talk about using wargames to justify their decisions I roll my eyes so hard I get a migraine. Wargames tend to be absolute crap and even when they aren't the participants use them to justify decisions long since made.
Who knows, the Corps may be on to something. It may be a total failure, or it may have a path that with some tweaking a few years from now becomes cutting edge. Until German tanks steamrolled Warsaw, the US Army believed a "square" division was the key to success. Within a few years the Army transitioned to a basic formation that has survived longer than any other in our history.
The Army and Corps alike had some bad days before they figured out airborne and amphibious landings. The US Navy went from a third-rate carrier aviation force to the undisputed king of everything in about year. 2022 could be no different as we transition from a Forever War to a future war.
The Corps' changes seem odd to me if not wrong. I'm not in those discussions, I'm not a Marine, so this is all academic in my world. I hope 2030/ 2035 finds a new Commandant making bold changes because the current Commandant's vision was never needed in the real world.
The Marines are still a cult and will remain so until the end of time. I'm just glad they are our Scientologists, even if they gave up their tanks.
We're kidding ourselves if we think that any unit, conventional or SOF, can sustain all of its core mission sets with a high degree of readiness. There's only so much time in a year, and so much funding, to use for training.
"Near peer" (China, let's be honest) threats are forcing us to focus on mission sets we have largely ignored for two DECADES. The threat has changed, tech has changed, the terrain/ battlespace has changed, and we have to change accordingly.
Will the Commandant's vision survive history? The successful (Mahan) and unsuccessful (Douhet to an extent) alike have shaped warfare well beyond their years. The Marines and AFSOC have gone all in on a vision for 2030 and beyond. When people talk about using wargames to justify their decisions I roll my eyes so hard I get a migraine. Wargames tend to be absolute crap and even when they aren't the participants use them to justify decisions long since made.
Who knows, the Corps may be on to something. It may be a total failure, or it may have a path that with some tweaking a few years from now becomes cutting edge. Until German tanks steamrolled Warsaw, the US Army believed a "square" division was the key to success. Within a few years the Army transitioned to a basic formation that has survived longer than any other in our history.
The Army and Corps alike had some bad days before they figured out airborne and amphibious landings. The US Navy went from a third-rate carrier aviation force to the undisputed king of everything in about year. 2022 could be no different as we transition from a Forever War to a future war.
The Corps' changes seem odd to me if not wrong. I'm not in those discussions, I'm not a Marine, so this is all academic in my world. I hope 2030/ 2035 finds a new Commandant making bold changes because the current Commandant's vision was never needed in the real world.
The Marines are still a cult and will remain so until the end of time. I'm just glad they are our Scientologists, even if they gave up their tanks.
