USS Wasp "enhanced" F-35B deployment....pics by Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Barker

Below are pics of the "enhanced" F-35B deployment aboard the USS Wasp.  Laying this out there.  Could I have been wrong in assuming that the Ground Combat Element is being left on the pier in favor of a light carrier?  It has definitely been proposed.  It was definitely championed by Amos.

But is this what it's about?

One thing is certain.  This IS about an aviation centric Marine Corps.  The lack of attack helicopters aboard this ship is disturbing but we don't know what the San Antonio that is attached is carrying.

Could this simply be an effort to redeploy assets across the Amphibious Ready Group because we also have an "enhanced" aviation capable LPD now?  Is this an effort to MAXIMIZE the current MEU instead of adding an additional ship to the MEU as I've called for in my Reinforced MEU Concept?  We desperately need to see what's aboard the LPD and LSD attached!

As far as this move (assuming this theory is correct)?  In the whole I still don't like it.

We're losing surface connectors which means that we're becoming even lighter than we are now.  As a matter of fact the USMC is the lightest its been with regard to the GCE right now since just after WW2!

Don't believe that?  Check the history.  By my count the USMC was at its heaviest shortly after Korea and before Vietnam.  It rocked steady thru Desert Storm and has been "losing weight" ever since.

Anyway, check out the pics below.