{"id":136640,"date":"2023-02-01T09:48:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T14:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=136640"},"modified":"2023-02-01T09:48:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T14:48:00","slug":"retired-marines-criticize-changes-intended-to-reshape-the-u-s-marines-for-china-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=136640","title":{"rendered":"Retired Marines criticize changes intended to reshape the U.S. Marines for China threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Marine Corps Commandant rolled out “Force Design 2030” back in 2020. This plan sees a potential scenario where China attempts to breach the first island chain. In order for the Marines to effectively serve in this scenario, the leadership is eying changes to the way the Marines are set up so that they could take part in such a scenario. However, retired senior Marine officers have criticized this plan.<\/p>\n

From the BBC:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Launched in 2020 by the Marine Corps Commandant General David H Berger, the plan is intended to equip the Marines for a potential conflict with China in the Indo-Pacific region rather than counter-insurgency wars like Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

The new plan sees the Marines as fighting dispersed operations across chains of islands. Units will be smaller, more spread out, but packing a much bigger punch through a variety of new weapons systems. Huge amphibious landings like in World War Two or massive deployments on land – like in Iraq – will probably be things of the past.<\/p>\n

Most unpopular is the plan to cut back on foot soldiers and give up all its tanks. Such proposals have led some critics to feel the Corps is turning its back on its past.<\/p>\n

While it has close ties with the US Navy it is a separate service which grew dramatically in World War Two and has taken a prominent role in recent campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Public perceptions of the Marine Corps are powerfully influenced by the World War Two experience. Anyone who has seen John Wayne in the 1949 feature film The Sands of Iwo Jima or the more recent mini-series The Pacific produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks will remember the large-scale amphibious operations; men storming ashore from landing craft and so on.<\/p>\n

This is not the way the new plan sees the Marines as fighting.<\/p>\n

Its traditional role as America’s military first responder, capable of taking on disparate challenges around the globe, is what critics believe could be compromised by the new plan with its clear focus upon China and the Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n

So what exactly is in the plan?<\/p>\n

* Some infantry battalions – the foot soldiers – to be cut<\/p>\n

* Around three-quarters of its towed artillery batteries replaced by long-range rocket systems<\/p>\n

* Several helicopter squadrons are being cut<\/p>\n

* Giving up all of its tanks<\/p>\n

Money for the new weapons systems, totalling $15.8 billion, are to be funded by the cuts which amount to some $18.2 billion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The BBC has the rest of the story, and photos, here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Marine Corps Commandant rolled out “Force Design 2030” back in 2020. This plan sees a … Retired Marines criticize changes intended to reshape the U.S. Marines for China threat<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[296,331],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-china","category-marines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136640\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}