The Death of the Corps; Commandant Fundamentally Changes the Entire Purpose of the Marine Corps

Remember the good old days when the Marine Corps was the nation’s Amphibious Force in Readiness?

Getting even more basic, there was a time when the Corps referred to itself as simply America’s 911.

Ahhh… the days of Send in the Marines are over.

Invariably as any great organization is destroyed, it’s usually from within.

Case in point would be the current Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. David Berger.

If his name rings a bell, it’s probably because he’s the mook that outlawed the flag of the Confederacy. That’s right, a young Marine from South Carolina, Alabama or Louisiana could be busted in rank and/or lose pay if he dares sport the Stars and Bars on his pickup.

With that aside, Berger has masterminded something titled Force Design 2030.

Berger’s dumping four battalions of tanks, entire regiments of artillery, whole aviation squadrons.

But what’s certainly the rifle-butt-to-the-larynx Coup de Grâce for the Marines would be that for all intents and purposes, the offensive amphibious character is gone.

Gone are the days of Iwo Jima, Incheon and Grenada. From now on, the Marine Corps will be reduced to essentially a much, MUCH smaller version of Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces.

As the everything-government ExecutiveGov.com  notes (emphasis mine);

The U.S. Marine Corps now prioritizes completing its ground-based, anti-ship missile system in alignment with the Commandant’s Planning Guidance and USMC’s Force Design 2030.

The service said Tuesday its medium-range missile battery can support the naval expeditionary force when integrated with maritime sensors and communication networks, through the Navy/Marine Corps Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS).

NMESIS is an anti-ship missile technology that meets USMC’s requirements for ground-based anti-ship missiles.

Fraser said medium-range missile batteries under Marine littoral regiments will use NMESIS. Marines at California-based Camp Pendleton will receive NMESIS assets in October.

No more of the enemy sweating bullets wondering where our Marines are going to hit next to bring death and destruction.

No… the enemy will already know where we are (more than likely is the very southernmost islands of the Japanese archipelago) we’re we’ll be a force “Defensive in nature.”

Just sitting there… waiting for the bad guys to roll into town.

Our Marines will be a “Static force” (IE: “feet cemented in the ground”).

A battle of the future scenario: Shit’s gettin’ hot in Xi’s rice bowl.

Newly arrived US Marine “Littoral Regiments” man Japan’s Senkaku, Diaoyu and Diaoyutai Islands (roughly 110 miles North-East of Taiwan, roughly 135 miles from Okinawa, and lastly, 600 miles to the southwest of the southernmost of Japan’s Home Islands.

Here’s the bothersome part. the Marines will be roughly 150 miles directly to the east of Communist China.

Of course, every Marine will have his personal weapons (M-16s, M-4s, pistols, sharp sticks, rocks, harsh language, pronoun talking points to bore the enemy to death, etc.)

Our boys will have all those nifty anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles to blowup all sorts of CCP warships and attack aircraft, right?

But what if Xi’s Marines make a breakthrough on any of those far-flung Japanese islands at the ass-end of the Ryukyu Islands chain that our Marines are stationed on?

Think about it. A whole bunch of technically trained (vice tactility trained) Marines will find themselves in a hot, very isolated group of islands, facing a well-trained, highly motivated and VERY tactically proficient enemy.

According to the good folks over at TaskAndPurpose.com,

Each Marine Littoral Regiment will be made up of roughly 2,000 Marines and sailors and include an anti-ship battery that uses NMESIS, which consists of Naval Strike Missiles, with a range of up to 115 miles, mounted on unmanned Joint Light Tactical Vehicles.

Undoubtedly, those missile Marines are nothing short of whizzes when it comes to computers and radar and satellite hookups and missile technology.

Without fail, I’m sure that more than a few Chinese sailors will be swimming back to Dinghai Naval Station.

Yes, American missile Marines can and will do a fine job of sinking warships of the Communist People’s Republic that are 115 miles distant.

That is provided that the CCP forces haven’t destroyed key US satellites in low orbit, somehow disrupted our radar systems, figured a way to detonate our missiles before hitting their ship… or a thousand other hyper-technical reasons for things to go wrong.

Here’s a nightmare question; what if NMESIS simply doesn’t work?

Like I said, our Marines may do a fine job of sinking enemy ships 115 miles away, but how about basic fire and maneuver against an enemy less than 50 yards away?

Just me, but I doubt if Berger learned anything from the Battle of Wake Island, the Siege of Khe Sahn or the Beirut Bombing.

As a retired Marine myself, I’ll just say that Marines in the defense simply suck. By virtue of our very name, Marines are offensive in nature, period.

I think not. I get the funny feeling that the Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper (USMC, Ret.) just might agree with me. See video below.

By the way, Gen. Van Riper was awarded four times for personal heroism in combat (Two Silver Stars, one Bronze Star w/ Combat V, one Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross.)