via Magloft.com
From Iwo Jima to Pusan; Khe Sanh to Kandahar; Fallujah to Marjah, one thing has remained constant: Infantry Marines were tasked to seize and hold key terrain. The “in order to” may change, but tomorrow’s battlefield still requires infantry Marines to seize and hold key terrain. This is why the infantry is and remains the main effort.
In the last three years, there has been a lot of discussion regarding the transitions that the Marine Corps must go through in order to remain ahead of the competition and a lethal warfighting organization, able to respond to all manners of crises. The Marine Corps recently began fielding modernized and technologically advanced platforms like the F-35B variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, the CH-53K heavy lift helicopter, the AH-1Z and UH-1Y light attack helicopters, the Amphibious Combat Vehicle, improved communication systems, and updated precision strike capabilities, just to name a few. These advancements are all designed to improve the lethality of ground forces engaged in close combat.
In the face of these advancements, one thing remains unchanged: the infantry must seize and hold key terrain. Without this essential contribution to the warfighting effort, nothing else matters.
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At the recent Ground Combat Element Operations Chief Symposium, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen David H. Berger, stated flat-out that “the infantry is the Marine Corps’ main effort.” He continued by saying the infantry is the reason the service will win the next fight—either in competition or conflict.
Infantry Marines have one simple demand of themselves—to be ready for the next battle—and they know that hard, realistic training is what they need to prepare for that certainty. More importantly, it is what they want, all part and parcel of the Spartan life they chose. Infantry Marines have pride in “the suck,” pride of being an infantry Marine, pride in knowing that if something happens in the world that they will be the ones that get to make things right, they are the ones that stand tall and say “I got this” as they move forward into the fight.
Here
Let me put aside all of my concerns. Put aside the concerns of retired generals (to include the former SecDef that was supposedly the genesis of this whole thing).
Let's imagine that Berger is right on all counts and this plan is what the nation needs from the Marine Corps.
Even giving him all of that credit ya know what?
Force Design 2030 has been a Master's Degree Class on HOW NOT to be a change agent. How NOT to push change in an organization. How NOT to get buy in from those you lead and stake holders.
Putting aside the strategy of this thing the damage that has been done between those that now serve and those that HAVE served is huge and insurmountable.
Where once there was a solid line its now fractured.
I really don't know how much I care anymore. These guys are gonna do what they do and to be honest I don't expect success.
Damage has been done that can't be repaired. It's no longer the Marine Corps to me. It's a "NEW" Marine Corps that has no connection to the past.
