Expeditionary Advanced Maritime Operations: How the Marine Corps Can Avoid Becoming a Second Land Army in the Pacific
Jake Yeager
December 26, 2019
Commentary
The Marine Corps’ very existence rests upon the axiom that the sea is maneuver space — an arena for decisive combat operations. Although the service has been required to spend the last two decades operating as a second land army in Iraq and Afghanistan, these tasks have now changed. As the Marine Corps reorients towards great power competition in the Pacific, it faces the harsh reality that the uncontested maritime maneuver-space it once took for granted — upon which more than $3.4 trillion of annual international maritime trade and America’s most influential companies increasingly depend — is now blanketed with dense layers of Chinese long-range missile weapons engagement zones. Further complicating matters, China now has the world’s largest navy, coast guard, and maritime militia, all of which operate directly under the military chain of command.
https://warontherocks.com/2019/12/expeditionary-advanced-maritime-operations-how-the-marine-corps-can-avoid-becoming-a-second-land-army-in-the-pacific/
