Budget stress is here. Time to remember the Navy and Marines need each other.

I spent some time this weekend reading other military blogs.  Blogs that are NOT Marine or Navy centric.

Trust me when I say that the push to position a particular service to avoid major budget cuts has begun.  If not actually in the halls of Congress then certainly in the blogging community.

All of this reminded me of an article written by Bryan McGrath for ID.  Here's the juicy bits...

Promote Land Power….From The Sea.  While I and others have been advocating for a significant cut in budget share to the Army, it is naïve to think that the country does not and will not have a continuing need for “boots on the ground.”  Increasingly though, America should come to see those boots as belonging to Marines (America’s “911” force) deployed from ships for a variety of reasons and likely to return to those ships in an expeditious manner.  Put another way, Seapower enabling Land Power.
Promote Defense, Development, and Diplomacy.  For a large portion of this nation’s history, its foreign policy was carried out by the Department of State, closely assisted by the Department of the Navy.  An active foreign policy that seeks to assure friends and allies even as it deters adversaries can be greatly enabled and renewed by a new era of targeted, and metered engagement facilitated by the mobility of Naval forces.
Promote Naval Solutions to Naval Challenges.  Two emerging operational problems appear amiable to solutions that demand closer cooperation between the Navy and the Marine Corps: swarming surface craft (simultaneous or near-simultaneous attack) and piracy. 

Read the whole thing here, but this is going to get nasty.  Instead of wishing the fight away...instead of hoping for inter-service cooperation...I hope our leadership (Navy and Marine Corps) is getting ready for this fight.

With attention turning to China, its essential that the Navy and Marine Corps avoid drastic budget cuts.  Its essential that we win this upcoming budget war.