Aviation has screwed the Ground side.

I've been chewing on a post that Jonathan sent me a week ago.  To be honest I've been looking and reading and thinking some more.  The article that Jonathan sent me is from DefenseNews Electronic Edition (subscription required) but this is the operative statement...

Over the last several months, Marine Corps rhetoric has become more moderate, said Dakota Wood, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assess­ments.

The Marine Corps is saying, “If it’s not the EFV specifically, it is cer­tainly the capability to conduct forcible entry operations from in­creased ranges,” he said.

“The Marine Corps’ real concern is: If I lose the EFV, do I also lose the funding or can I reapply that money to some new effort?” he said.

So what is the moral of the story regarding the EFV? 

1.  Too expensive.

2.  Too long in development.

3.  An attempt at revolutionary instead of evolutionary tech leap.

4.  Not built for real world operations (not talking its capabilities but rather its maintenance requirements)

But all this brings us to a bigger issue.
Marine Corps Aviation has effectively been allowed to screw the ground component.  We are becoming that mythical magical equivalent of a US Army Air Assault Force.  We are becoming helo centric with limited mechanized capabilities.
Consider this.  The ground side is now in danger of operating equipment that dates from the 70's in with the following programs on the chopping block...

Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle...
Marine Personnel Carrier (have you heard a whisper from that program in the last year?)...
JLTV (if the Marine Corps isn't signaling that this is a dead duck then you're not paying attention)...

Now also consider this.  Aviation will receive the following aircraft...

F-35...
AH-1Z...
UH-1Y...
CH-53K...
MV-22...
KC-130J...
Kaman UAV resupply helo...
other UAVs....

Lastly consider that Marine Corps future operating doctrine is incompatible with a historically mechanized Marine Division.  What do I mean?  Distributed Operations...Mini-ARGs...Partnership missions.

I asked earlier why Marine Tanks hasn't deployed---now we know.  Whether intentional or by accident, we're moving toward Dakota Wood's Commando Force structure.