This will be a MUST SEE series. More importantly its a warning for our future. The US Army (all the services) all geared up for a nuclear war with the USSR. It never came. What did we see instead? Wars in the Middle East. Vietnam. Police actions all over the place.
The USMC is gearing up for a war with China and stripping away its entire Ground Combat Element in a vain effort to develop a way to fight easy.
It doesn't exist.
What do I predict?
That history will repeat.
The USMC will be LEAST READY when the nation most needs it to be ready for the challenge. We are getting ready for the wrong fight. China will meet us on a battlefield, but it won't be in the first island chain. It will be in Africa, the Middle East or perhaps even S. America.
I was watching Rick and Morty at the end of shift and I saw the above commercial and I had an epiphany.
This has been laid out for us since 2018 but we all missed it (guess we got caught up in the visuals and didn't devine the meaning behind it all...but how could we?).
Watch the video carefully and listen to the words.
"It's not about the ships". Then we see a big deck go away. Berger is wanting amphibs that are much smaller.
"It's not about the armor". Then we see LAVs gone with the wind. Berger has said that he has little confidence that LAVs will be useful on future battlefields.
"It's not about the aircraft". We see F-35s vanish (literally...not the stealth version of it). Berger has said that he's planning on cutting the number of F-35s. He cited pilot shortage but its obviously much different. Maybe cost. Maybe he wants robot planes instead. Maybe it is about pilots. Maybe all of the above but suddenly the "die in a ditch" program ain't worth dying in a ditch anymore.
Do you get the force of connection?
I've been under the impression that he did a study once he got into the big chair and came up with this stuff.
He didn't.
This is a well laid out plan that at LEAST goes back to Neller and probably as far back as Amos.
We've all been played folks.
For better or worse the USMC has designated itself the anti-China force and the rest of the world is the US Army's responsibility.
You'll see token forces here and there if conflict breaks out in other parts of the world but for the foreseeable future all ground combat resides firmly in the grasp of the Army.
The Marine Corps is willfully going from a medium weight multi-purpose force capable of scaling up and down the spectrum of battle (Berger himself said that we're not that anymore) to a coastal defense force. The Marine Corps is becoming an Island Defense Corps with 3 Island Defense Divisions.
Pathetic. This will be the final nail in the failed leadership we've experienced from Marine Corps leadership from the start of the war on terror. The generation that either lost Vietnam, came right after and said not another Vietnam (gave us 20 years in Afghanistan so they could make what came before look like sunshine), is moving forward on a plan to ensure we lose the next war.
Heavily armed black protesters march through Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta, Georgia, calling for the removal of a giant rock carving known as Confederate Memorial. A monument that many see as a symbol of racism. pic.twitter.com/NSDpsyIJJZ
Time to hold up a mirror to some of my readers. Does the above piss you off? Upset you? Make you wonder why Law Enforcement didn't rush to arrest everyone involved?
If you do then you should have had a problem with the armed protests in Minnesota...I'm bringing this up cause I've seen all kinds of posts that were going batshit crazy over the above but cheered the below.
The 2nd Amendment is for all or its for none.
If you think that both groups have a right to protest with firearms then fair enough.
If you think that both groups were idiots to parade around in public with firearms then I'm with you.
But I'll add this.
Both groups need to chill the fuck out. I predict (quite easily) that a horrible accident will occur with this nonsense and whoever is involved (from whatever group) will be crying like a bitch once they set foot in the land of the barbarians (jail).
The USMC has selected the Kongsberg offering for its MADIS inc 1 SHORAD requirement. The RWS suggested by Kongsberg includes the XM914 30 mm cannon and stinger missiles, and control commonality with the PROTECTOR series used by the US. https://t.co/uzEjWOyu8Qpic.twitter.com/0BaV2goVCP
Interesting. I knew MOOG was in the running but had no idea that EOS was involved.
What concerns is the MEAGER lethality of the system. Against anything but small UAVs this will NOT PROVIDE A CREDIBLE defense.
A heavyweight UAV like the Predator could launch missiles outside the engagement zone of this system.
In other words this system solves nothing. My preference? I'd go European and still be relatively light...
Raytheon/Kongsberg NASAMS
Land Ceptor
Or perhaps the best option for this NEW Marine Corps would be the system the Army tossed away...
Of course it would never fly in the NEW Marine Corps because Berger is hell bent on making the Marine Corps as light as possible...combat effectiveness be damned.
But if by chance he would take a beat. Reorient. Change his ways before he sends his boys to hell...he would realize that one vehicle could fill the role of HIMARS, Anti-Ship, Anti-Air, and an ability to break up armored formations when firing Hellfire missiles.
But he won't do that.
He's got a plan and its hey diddle diddle we ain't a gonna have Ground Combat Element no more...
This is too cool! I love it! Thanks to the Awesome Marine that sent me this! Oh and to the Russian Marines. We'll steal anything not nailed down...to include your women! Just joking (kinda)...chill out!
I've been watching talk of the Vindman retirement and to my surprise John Bolton made a fantastic point.
Of course he blamed Trump for politicizing the guy but he also laid blame at the feet of Senator Duckworth. His reasoning? She threatened to hold up 1100 Officer promotions unless the White House/Pentagon acquiesced to certain demands (don't recall what they were).
The weird thing?
Trump can hold up the promotion of any officer in the military for any reason. It's part of being commander-in-chief.
The even weirder thing?
Vindman will be well taken care of. If the Dems win the White House, take the Senate or none-of-the-above, you can bet that he'll either be back in the DoD as a civilian appointee or on a staff of some senator.
He retired but will end up still be promoted.
Tell me where I'm wrong.
Note. In another surprise move by Bolton he said both Trump and Duckworth were at fault. Oh and the interview was on MSNBC!
Code-breaking cops find Dutch torture chamber near Belgian border which was housed in shipping containers. Thankfully, it hadn’t been used, with police tipping off potential victims who then went into hiding pic.twitter.com/avuG3pe6IZ
Who were the potential victims? What group is behind this? The thing has soundproofing and that aren't hobbled together parts. Where did they buy all this gear?
Something real bad was about to happen here. Good job by the security forces.
MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/. Russia has started promoting the latest T-14 ‘Armata’ tank for exports, Head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev said in an interview with Serbia’s Glas javnosti online newspaper on Monday.
"Russian producers are ready to offer potential buyers both air defense systems, such as the S-300 and the S-400, and advanced aircraft and helicopters. We are preparing the MiG-35 light fighter for sale and are promoting the latest T-14 ‘Armata’ tank," the Russian defense official said.
Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said in April that Russia was planning to start work with foreign customers of the Armata tank in 2021 and had already received several prior requests.
The Armata is a heavy tracked standardized platform serving as the basis to develop a main battle tank, an infantry fighting vehicle, an armored personnel carrier and some other armored vehicles.
The T-14 tank based on the Armata platform was shown to the public for the first time at Red Square’s Victory Day parade on May 9, 2015. The new combat vehicle features fully digitized equipment, an unmanned turret and an isolated armored capsule for the crew.
I was reading the Commandant's Planning Guidance and he highlighted certain points. I paid close attention and I'm trying to figure out the message contained. Here's what I've come up with so far....
There is no piece of equipment or major defense acquisition program that defines us – not the AAV, ACV, LAV, M1A1, M777, AH-1, F/A-18, F-35, or any other program.
Did you notice what wasn't included in this hit parade? The MV-22. The CH-53K. The JLTV. HIMARS. He just telegraphed what's on the chopping block. Either these systems will be canned outright (M1A1, AAV, F/A-18) or they're gonna be reduced (M777, F-35, AH-1). A few are in a category I can't yet determine (LAV) and maybe a few others that didn't make the list but if you're a fan of any of the above or worse in that MOS you better get ready to be at best reduced - maybe looking for a new job.
If provided the opportunity to secure additional modernization dollars in exchange for force structure, I am prepared to do so.
In an earlier post today I said that I wouldn't be surprised to see the force shrink to 125K by 2030. The above passage from the CPG shows that to be the case. Since 2004 I've heard rumblings of the Corps going down to 150K. That appears to have been optimistic. Few boat spaces indeed.
The Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) will remain our principal warfighting organization; however, our MEFs need not be identical. III MEF will become our main focus-of-effort, designed to provide U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (U.S. INDOPACOM) and the Commander, 7th Fleet with a fight-tonight, stand- in force capability to persist inside an adversary’s weapon systems threat range, create a mutually contested space, and facilitate the larger naval campaign. When modernized in a manner consistent with the vision above, III MEF will be a credible deterrent to adversary aggression in the Pacific. I MEF will also be focused on supporting the Commander, USINDOPACOM and the Commander, 3rd Fleet. I MEF will continue to provide forces to USINDOPACOM to build partner capacity and reinforce deterrence efforts, and must be prepared to impose costs on a potential adversary, globally. We will increasingly accept risk with I MEF’s habitual relationship with CENTCOM; however, 7th Marines is at present purpose-built to support CENTCOM requirements; thus, I MEF will continue to support CENTCOM requirements within the capacity of 7th Marines. II MEF will undergo substantial changes to better align with the needs of Commanders of 2d and 6th Fleets. During a major contingency operation or sustained campaign ashore, necessary combat power will be provided to the committed MEF through global sourcing by the Total Force.
2nd MEF is soon to be the Marine Corps bitch boys. If you ain't in 1st MEF you ain't shit. It's obvious from this passage that while 2nd MEF will get a bit of attention the real action will be in the 1st MEF. What has me puzzled is this piece. 7th Marines will continue to support CENTCOM. Why? It kinda throws stuff into an even bigger meat grinder than is necessary in my opinion. They're gonna have to be COMPLETELY different from the other Regiments in the MEF to handle CENTCOM taskings. You are ring knocker? Then you better hustle over to the West Coast if you ever want to make your way to the big chair over at Quantico.
I see potential in the “Lightning Carrier” concept, based on an LHA / LHD; however, do not support a new-build CVL. Partnering a big-deck amphib with surface combatants is the right warfighting capability for many of the challenges confronting the joint force, and provides substantial naval and Joint operational flexibility, lethality, and survivability.
Hmm. This makes no sense to me. If it's all about China and doing all we can to combat that threat than a purpose built light carrier makes sense. Unless the idea is to protect big decks. This is where I feel he's showing some true colors. Everything is on the chopping blocks. He's stripping the Ground Combat Element down to nothing but he doesn't want to maximize the F-35 on a purpose built light carrier? Kinda makes a lie of the smaller more numerous more expendable assets doesn't it.
There is much more but I'm already pissed with this. Maybe a bit more tomorrow.
NOTE! Re-reading this thing and we're back to the Marine Corps "serving it's customers"..."what the customer wants"...that line of idiocy. I wonder what prompted the return of this wording to the Marine Corps/DOD.
With tanks having gone the way of the dodo bird...with the cuts to infantry battalions, decrease in cannons etc...its become apparent that large scale forcible entry is off the table for the USMC.
Additionally with the cut in ground combat power we've eviscerated the Marine Air-Ground Task Force to such a degree that it should be renamed Air Task Force with ground support.
So what makes the United States Marine Corps unique going into the future? What capability saves us from the bean counters that will assuredly come hunting for scalps in the near term?
Oh you can bet that the floor of 175K Marines will soon evaporate like dew on the grass in the middle of the summer. In the past we've heard the number of 150K batted around but I'd be willing to bet that the number will shrink even further. My guess? By 2030 we'll be looking at probably 125K Marines MAX!
The terrible thing?
Many predicted bad things with the USMC's unshakable belief in the F-35. That one project has essentially gobbled up the budget to such a degree that everything else died so it could live. Next on the chopping block? The ACV. LAR Bns. The JLTV will be the primary ground combat vehicle of the Marine Corps soon. The Air Wing will reign supreme.
So with the Marines headed toward being the US Navy's other air force, SOCOM's perimeter security and the Army's missile force what makes us unique?
What role do we play? Where will we be useful outside of a fight with China? Even hybrid forces will give our NEW ground combat element a tough fight...Iraqi forces during the fight in Gulf War 1 would eat this new Corps alive.
How can a one war service survive if that war doesn't come?
