Special Purpose MAGTF-CR is an abomination...and drifting closer to being a MEU.

via Marine Corps Manual.

A Marine air-ground task force organized, trained, and equipped with narrowly focused capabilities. It is designed to accomplish a specific mission, often of limited scope and duration.It may be any size, but normally it is a relatively small force--the size of a Marine expeditionary unit or smaller. Also called SPMAGTF. See also aviation combat element; combatservice support element; command element; ground combat element; Marine air-ground task force; Marine expeditionary force; Marine expeditionary force (forward); Marineexpeditionary unit; task force.

The SPMAGTF-CR is an abomination.  It is a fictional unit that does not fit with Marine Corps doctrine and was produced out of thin air to (in my opinion) certify the Company Landing Team concept and the MV-22.

It has failed miserably.  It is morphing into an MEU without ships or armor and very little artillery....and its throwing an already stretched Marine Corps into unneeded chaos.  Want proof?  Check this out from Marine Times.

In an after-action report from Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command's first 100 days on the ground, task force staff said the "unavoidable and compressed schedule" of the unit's first deployment resulted in minimal predeployment training and forced the unit to rely on I Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters group to assist with tasks like checking Marines into the unit and assigning duties.
The Kuwait-based unit, which activated Oct. 1, began supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led effort to counter the Islamic State group, within its first days on the ground. Troops from the unit are supporting U.S. embassy security operations in Baghdad, Iraq, and are training Iraqi troops in Al Asad. The unit's commander, Col. Jason Bohm, told Marine Corps Times in December that his Marines are also conducting air strikes and surveillance operations and had responsibility for tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel missions in the Middle East.
Because of emerging mission requirements, the number of personnel assigned to the unit increased during the first 100 days, according to the after-action report. The report did not specify how many troops the unit added to its initial strength of 2,300, but said the expansion included additional casualty evacuation capability. The unit was also augmented with a shock trauma platoon and en-route medical care teams to facilitate unit medical care and support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions as needed, the report states.
The unit currently includes: a regimental headquarters from 5th Marines; a ground combat element from 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines; an aviation combat element from 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing with MV-22B Ospreys from VMM-263 and AV-8B Harriers from VMA-211; and other detachments including a KC-130J element and an EA-6B Prowler squadron.

The unit has been plussed up both on the grunt and medical side, has added aircraft in the form of the Harriers and EA-6Bs and I predict that we will soon see AH-1Zs and UH-1Ys.

We actually expect a smaller Marine Corps to support three continuous MEUs, approx 4 to 6 SPMAGTFs, have Marines on the ground in Iraq, support unit deployments to Okinawa and Australia...and still have adequate dwell time for our Marines to keep from going bat shit crazy?

I don't think so.

The answer is simple.  The SPMAGTF-CR needs to go.  MEU's need to be reinforced by adding an AFSB to the Amphibious Ready Group...and a moratorium taken on half baked ideas.