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Gates Orders Marine Corps Force Structure Review

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08.13.2010 at 09:01am

Gates Orders Marine Corps Force Structure Review by Jim Garamone of American Forces Press Service. An excerpt follows:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has ordered a thorough force structure review of the Marine Corps to determine what an expeditionary force in readiness should look like in the 21st century.

There are questions about the mission of the Marine Corps, Gates said. Before World War II, the Marines very successfully conducted “small wars” in the western hemisphere. The service also developed the rationale and logistics needed to conduct amphibious warfare.

During World War II, the Corps was wholly dedicated to landing on the beaches in the South and Central Pacific. America’s first offensive of World War II was when Marines landed on the beaches of Guadalcanal and began the campaign against Japan in August 1942. Tarawa, Saipan, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa are just a few of the landings Marines made.

Since then, Marines have fought on the beaches, mountains and trenches of Korea, the highlands and rice paddies of Vietnam, and the deserts of Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. Although many of these operations saw Marines initially projected from the sea, “they soon turned into long, grinding, ground engagements,” Gates said.

The nation does not need a second land army, Gates said, but rather forces that can deploy quickly and sustain themselves for a short period of time.

Also see Gates: Time has Come to Re-examine Future of Marine Corps by Kevin Baron of Stars and Stripes and Defense Chief Gates Orders Review of Marines’ Role by David S. Cloud of The Los Angeles Times.

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