MY
Posted byCollin Fox January 13, 2022
EDITOR’S NOTE: The current temporary theme we are using only credits a single author. This article was written by Collin Fox, Walker Mills, Dylan Phillips-Levine and Trevor Phillips-Levine.
Since the famous flag raising over Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, Marines have at least attempted to lay claim to the Pacific as their proprietary theater of operations.
The withdrawal from Afghanistan and budget uncertainty has Army leaders aggressively making the case for the Army’s role in the Pacific, where the Pentagon’s strategic priorities lay. To better position itself in what defense analysts are calling an “all-out interservice fight” for funding, and a “bloodletting,” the Army has played up the value of its traditional contributions like armor, while investing heavily in cutting edge modernizing efforts like long-range, precision fires (for the Pacific). In December, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth called the Army “the linchpin service for the joint force” in the Pacific and laid out its key contributions. Army leaders also stressed their service’s contribution to the Indo-Pacific at the Association of the United States Army’s 2021 annual meeting and exposition in October, calling the land domain in “decisive,” and extolling the value of “putting boots on the ground” in the region.” But, at the same time the other services have weighed in. Navalists have argued that the nation doesn’t need a “second Marine Corps,” and that the Pentagon should simply “Give the Navy the Army’s Money.” Air Force leadership has been even more blunt, calling the Army’s long-range precision fires goal “stupid.” However, the Army does have a critical role to play in the landward portion of the Indo-Pacific region, by adding its mass and enabling capabilities to the Marine Corps’ existing efforts. The Marine Corps’ aggressive force design and new concepts Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations and Stand-in Forces should be a blueprint for employment of the U.S. Army in the Indo-Pacific. Ultimately, competition and any potential conflict in the Pacific region will require a fully integrated joint force that leaves no service behind.
https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/exp-ops/
