Marine Personnel Carrier Program on hold.

And so it begins.  Via Inside Defense.

The Marine Corps is putting a hold on its Marine Personnel Carrier program later in the fiscal year after prototype testing is complete, and the service is working through future plans for the program, service spokesman Manny Pacheco said.
In the Navy's fiscal year 2014 budget, the Marine Corps requested $20.9 million in research, development, test and evaluation funding for MPC. This is a $72.1 million cut from what the Navy projected the program would need for FY-14 when it unveiled its FY-13 budget last year.
The Marine Corps planned to prepare and conduct pre-engineering and manufacturing development in FY-14, leading to an early FY-15 milestone B review. The service also planned to issue a request for proposals for two prime contractors to compete in an MPC drive-off.
"These plans are no longer valid due to the fact that we are awaiting an ACV decision," Marc Paquette, MPC director, wrote in an April 11 email to Inside the Navy.
Since the fate of the MPC is tied to the Marines' Amphibious Combat Vehicle, Paquette said it would be "presumptuous" to address MPC alternatives until the ACV acquisition strategy is worked out.
"We have no immediate plans to buy MPCs, they have always been envisioned as a complementary capability to ACV," Paquette added.
However, the Marine Corps continues to meet with other program officials to share technical data and knowledge, he wrote.
"As we maneuver a very difficult landscape, it is vital that more of what we do and learn is shared across similar platforms to ultimately reduce costs and attain better buying power for the [Defense Department]," Paquette said.
ACV shows a decrease in the FY-14 president's budget from $149 million to $137 million from what was projected in FY-13.
The MPC will satisfy the medium lift capability as part of the Amphibious Combat Vehicle and Joint Light Tactical Vehicle triad. MPC provides armored protection and lethality to protect the vehicle and support dismounted infantry in the attack, while providing payload to carry the infantry's combat loads, mission-essential equipment and up to two days of supply, according to FY-14 Navy budget justification documents.
When asked if the MPC is at risk due to fiscal constraints, William Taylor, the Marine Corps' program executive officer for land systems, told ITN in September, "wait and see." Taylor said the Marine Corps was "very smart" in linking the MPC acquisition strategy to the ACV.
The MPC is not satisfying a ship-to-shore requirement like the ACV -- it is designed with a much more limited water mobility requirement, he said. -- Lee Hudson

This is complete and utter bullshit.

You have vehicles that are ready to go NOW!  They have amphibious capability.  They provide protected mobility for our ground forces and instead of moving forward with a procurement decision, they delay?

Unbelievable!

We have an Assistant Commandant for Aviation.

Now it appears we need an Assistant Commandant for the ground forces. 

Sidenote:  Don't hold your breath on the ACV.  They can't even get the request for proposal out.  Its been delayed several times already.