Why Marine Corps forces are becoming less relevant to combatant commanders
Opinion by Stephen Baird and Timothy Wells, Opinion Contributors - Yesterday 3:00 PM
The 2022 National Defense Strategy characterizes the global security environment as a “great power competition,” pitting a rising China and resurgent Russia against the United States and its allies. The U.S. recently deployed significant forces to Europe and the Pacific in response to malign actions by Russia and China, signaling our embrace of the strategic competition construct. One important lesson is already clear: Combatant commanders need more forward-based/forward-deployed forces to support their strategies for global military competition.
The Marine Corps has unwisely elected to cut structure and capability to achieve Force Design 2030 (FD2030) targets at a time when the demand signal from combatant commanders for flexible, balanced forces is increasing. Commanders need more forces to execute tasks across the spectrum of competition and on both sides of the violence threshold. Common missions include forward presence, bilateral training and exercises, security cooperation, capacity building, deterrence, crisis response and contingency operations (high-, mid- and low-intensity).
Marine Corps forces are particularly well suited for capacity building and security cooperation missions. However, the Corps has been reluctant to offer high-demand active component forces and often relies on its Reserve to fill these requirements. Eliminating five infantry battalions and focusing III Marine Expeditionary Force on the employment of specifically tailored and narrowly defined stand-in forces for the Indo-Pacific Command further limits the pool of available forces to support capacity building and security cooperation. One can conclude that fully supporting combatant commanders’ requirements undermines the FD2030 implementation plan.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/why-marine-corps-forces-are-becoming-less-relevant-to-combatant-commanders/ar-AA12VYuk?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=34ed3716049643a78962682672e2b7d0
