The Marine Corps’ Failure to Connect
By Jake Sharry
October 2020
The Marine Corps/Navy team of the 1920s and ‘30s recognized that it would need vehicles that could move from ship to shore independently and built 1,225 from 1940 to 1943. These LVT(1)s could carry more than two tons (4,500 pounds) of cargo and served in myriad combat and combat service support roles.
Today, planning has been restricted and the Marine Corps’ vehicles and equipment have become so specialized they have limited usefulness. This affects training, evaluation, and core competencies. It creates Marine expeditionary unit certification exercises where objectives are built into cookie-cutter specialized missions/raids that—as U.S. history in the Pacific teaches—will not be specialized or obvious in conflict. Marine Corps strategy and the amphibious connectors used to execute it are wholly inadequate.
The Current Challenge
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2020/october/marine-corps-failure-connect
