The future Marine Rifle Squad as explained by a machine gunner
Travis Pike | October 14, 2021
The Marine Corps does a lot of things well. One of those things is to do more with less, and as you’d expect as a result, another is to innovate. However, the plans for the new Marine Corps rifle squad seem to suggest the Corps might be moving away from that ‘more with less’ reputation. The modern Marine squad will be doing a lot more with… a lot more. The Marine Corps has been on a roll as of late, becoming a leaner, more capable fighting force for new kinds of conflict and adjusting its makeup to suit. A big part of that comes down to the individual squad, and that squad is changing drastically.
The squad might well be changing, but the mission of the Marine rifle squad will not. They will continue to locate, close with and destroy the enemy by means of fire, maneuver, and close combat. Here’s what that’ll look like moving forward.
The Future Marine Rifle Squad Structure
The traditional Marine Corps squad consisted of a squad leader and three fireteams of four Marines. Fireteams consisted of a team leader, an automatic rifleman, an assistant automatic rifleman, and a rifleman.
The latest squad eliminates the rifleman and assistant automatic rifleman positions. All Marines carrying M27s have automatic capability. Additionally, each fireteam will have a grenadier also carrying the M27 IAR.
https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/the-future-marine-rifle-squad-as-explained-by-a-machine-gunner/
