Berger's Folly is finally shown in all its pathetic glory.

 Thanks to Purpleslog for the link!

via Washington Times

Gen. Berger outlined in the journal article that the new Marine mission will include reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance of People’s Liberation Army forces and activities from waters close to China‘s shores. Reconnaissance is detecting enemy activities, while counter-reconnaissance is blocking an adversary from doing the same to U.S. forces.

Now its about Recon of enemy forces?  He's been banging the hammer about being the Navy's new fleet assistant in the sea battle and now we're monitoring Chinese Army forces from the water? So what is that now.  Ship killing.  Sub hunting.  Missile firing.  EABO capable.  HH/DR.  Raids.  Mechanized Raids. Full scale warfare.  Embassy reinforcement.  Blah, blah, blah.  This new force will be focused on one thing.  Firing missiles then dying in place.

 “The answer to the question of how we may best support the broader effort, it seems increasingly likely, is not lethal fires as an end in themselves but rather reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance applied in all domains and across the competition continuum,” Gen. Berger said.

Marine stand-in forces will be “constantly present” in key waters during periods of competition with China below the level of conflict and will seek to deter and counter “non-lethal coercive behavior and other malign activity directed at U.S. allies, partners, and other interests,” Gen. Berger wrote.

This dude isn't building a Marine Corps to fight the next war.  This dude is building a Marine Corps that HE HOPES will deter China!  FAT CHANCE OF THAT!!!!  Once they decide to attack (whatever it may be), a few Littoral Regiments will be less than a speed bump.

Now I get the emphasis on COMPETITION in his force design and NOT actual combat.

 The stand-in Marine force would move continually from stealthy sea-based platforms and austere bases ashore. That would make it “fiendishly difficult for the adversary to locate, track, and effectively target” and significantly complicate Chinese leaders’ decision-making.

“Even in steady-state, day-to-day competition below the threshold of violence, this widely distributed mobile presence will greatly expand the depth and fidelity of the joint force commander’s understanding of the full range of adversary and other activity within the area of operations,” Gen. Berger wrote in the journal article.

This is utter bullshit.  We can get a better view of enemy activity using our sats.  Evading this force will BE LAUGHABLY easy.  The real problem is that the force will be LAUGHABLY easy to detect!

Note that they continue to talk about the "threshold below violence"!!!

 The four-star general predicted that the new mission will be controversial within the Marine Corps and the U.S. military in general because it appears to go against the service’s traditional role as amphibious shock troops. But the reform is needed as part of efforts to retool the military for a possible war with China.

I'm calling it now.

This plan is as dead as disco.  He's speeding it up to an IOC in 2023.  Why? Because he's feeling the pushback.  No one is buying this shit and the more people learn about it the more they're calling him on it.

I fear its too late.

Berger did to the Marine Corps in two short years what the Japanese Imperial Army couldn't during the course of WW2.

Hate to say it but the Marine Corps is on a losing streak when it comes to leadership.

First Amos, then Neller and now this steaming pile.

I'm guessing its a generational thing.  Time for the old guard to grab their coffee mugs and clean out the office.  They can take their camp followers with them.

This will go down as one of the biggest conceptual pieces of idiocy the military has ever known.  What has me spinning is that they're actually trying to compare this bullshit to the work that the greats did to develop the amphibious assault concept years ago.

Once again transformationalist have lost.

Read the article here.