Are Marine Tanks about to be disbanded/moved to the reserves?

via USNI News.

The Marine Corps is considering this future operating environment and what capabilities it will need to be successful against a future near-peer competitor. Neller told USNI News in a sit-down interview at the Pentagon this week that he has settled on a general path forward for shaping the force – a group of colonels set out to chart an evolutionary path forward and a younger group of captains and majors were to lay out a revolutionary concept for the future force, and rather than pick one Neller ended up merging the two together. With that big picture decision made, Neller is working through the details of how to cram all the new capabilities the service will need into a 182,000-Marine force – which occupational specialties will have to grow, and which will either shrink or be moved into the reserves to make room – and should have a final decision made by early next year.

Then this comment from CoffeeJoeJava in response to the Commandant talking about adding an Assistant Squad Leader.

Commandant wants to add an asst squad leader to every squad in a rifle company to handle that squads personal drone. Hmm….math says that is an additional 648 Marines at 3 companies per battalion and 864 Marines if you include weapons battalion. Where is he getting these Marines? The Corps is capped at 182,000….who is going to sacrifice the manpower and structure to give the grunts this? And having 9-12 drones per company seems a bit much.

The fix is in.

Marine Tanks are about to either be disbanded or moved to the reserves before they're completely killed to keep the tribe quiet.  Its been obvious for awhile but I just didn't want to see it.  First USMC Tanks are almost 3 technological generations behind the US Army.  Second we just sold the Saudis more tanks in one buy than the USMC has in inventory.  Last the subject of tanks in the Marine Corps never crosses the lips of senior officers.

Marine Tanks are the walking dead.  That's too bad from my chair, even worse for that youngster in school right now that doesn't know that in a few short years he's gonna be hookin and jabbin with the Red Dragon and today's leaders made bets on a flawed airplane to provide his supporting fires.  I wonder if he will curse them when he realizes that he won't live to see another day?