Who Can Save the Marine Corps?
By Stephen Baird
November 18, 2024
On November 10, 2024, we celebrated the 249th birthday of the Marine Corps. Marines around the world gathered and sang “From the Halls of Montezuma To the shores of Tripoli, We fight our country's battles In the air, on land, and sea. First to fight for right and freedom….” Familiar lyrics to many, but are they relevant today? The simple answer, No.
In 2020, with the implementation of Force Design 2030 (now called Force Design) coupled with the Marine Corps’ abdication of its amphibious ship lift requirement, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Berger, effectively neutered the Corps’ capabilities to be a global response force. General Berger’s Force Design divested (cut) 21% of the personnel in infantry battalions, 100% of the tanks, 67% of the cannon artillery batteries, 33% of the assault amphibious companies, more than 25 % of Marine aviation, and almost all assault breaching equipment in the active forces.
These “divestments” were made to “invest” in reorganizing and restructuring the Marine Corps to focus primarily on one geographic theater (Indo-Pacific) and one enemy, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Is it wise to primarily focus on one enemy? Former Senator and Secretary of the Navy Jim Webb wrote “There is no greater danger in military strategy than shaping a nation’s force structure to respond to one specific set of contingencies, giving an adversary the ability to adjust and adapt beforehand.”
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2024/11/18/who_can_save_the_marine_corps_1072743.html
