A couple of old Marine Corps sayings I’d like to share with you;
- “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.”
- “You don’t have to practice to be miserable.”
Granted, the first adage is popular of the amongst the ‘Pain is Good‘ crowd, of which (at least) use to be quite few Marines, myself included.
The second quote was known to be uttered by most terminal Lance Corporals at the end of one of those nasty long-distance speed marches (AKA: “Humps“). But in all fairness, most Marines aren’t happy unless they’re bitching.
One thing I will add on as a postscript to the latter quip; “You don’t have to practice to be miserable, but you do have to practice to endure misery.
Just me, but I see the Biden-friendly US Armed Forces leaning heavily towards a testosterone-free mindset, especially by the Marine Corps.
And who knew that the Commandant of the Marine Corps had the mindset of a shit-bird career L/Cpl?
Sadly, the Marine Corps was once synonymous with everything manly and traditional. That was then, this is now.
I was recently made aware of something the Marine Corps calls “Project Tripoli”.
Initially thinking it had something to do with killing Tripolitanian Moslems, was I wrong. Sincere and profound apologies to 1st Lt. Presley O’Bannon. I’m sure he’s spinning in his grave.
Anyhow, for me to find out what “Project Tripoli” is all about, I went to the source. As noted to MARADMINS 085/22;
[The Commandant of the Marine Corps] emphasized the importance of intellectual rigor, close and consistent coordination, ruthless analysis, and potential abandonment of familiar ideas, capabilities, and platforms.
Hmmm… “Intellectual rigor”, that’s quite the open-ended statement. No way that could be misinterpreted.
“Close and consistent coordination”. Who could argue against that? But I can’t help but wonder how close this comes to morale killing micro-management.
“Ruthless analysis”. Must be a catch-all for blaming someone else when things turn to shit.
“Potential abandonment, blah, blah, blah, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit…” The Commandant will be more woke than the Air Force and the Girl Scouts, combined. That’s pretty woke.
So far, things certainly don’t bode well. But on with the (shit) show.
Our systems will quickly outpace our current training infrastructure, live-fire ranges, and exceed environmental and other local governmental policies and restrictions in CONUS and OCONUS.
What planet are they on? The Marine Corps will be getting smaller, so how could our training facilities and ranges be so-called “outpaced”? Besides, every year the Marine Corps gets money for facilities improvement.
Oh… wait. This Commandant is factoring in the environment.
Hey, so what if the Territory of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands fall to the godless Communist Chinese. As long as the trongkon nunu trees are safe and sound.
Then this moron addresses the feeeeeelings local government. Local laws change with the wind, so when it comes to the security of the nation, fuck local laws. But that’s just me.
Secondly, have none of these dip-shits even seen a map of how much of the USA is property of the federal government?
Then I read even more bullshit how the current Commandant, Gen. David Berger, intends to “breathe life” into his slow-motion abortion better known as Force Design 2030.
Just when I thought no one would ever top Kamala Harris’ penchant for word salad, MARADMINS 085/22 proved me wrong;
It [Project Tripoli, AKA: “LIVE, VIRTUAL, CONSTRUCTIVE TRAINING ENVIRONMENT“] will build readiness across all echelons of command and throughout the MAGTF (Marine Air-Ground Task Force) while allowing for experimentation with emerging technologies and concepts. The LVC-TE will provide the architecture to integrate and render real-time data from instrumented ranges, force-on-force training aids and devices, simulators, and simulations across a deliberately provisioned training network that enables connectivity and interaction across globally disparate training sites.
Why do I get the feeling that the military will be have some sort of mutant cross between Comic-Con and the unveiling of the latest PlayStation?
I must also add that whenever I read words such as “Simulators,” “Emerging technology” and “Connectivity,” I see so-called “training” conducted in air-conditioned buildings.
Let’s take a peek and see how the media is portraying this.
From the respected National Defense Magazine;
With room running out at large combat centers such as Twentynine Palms, California, and new doctrine calling for expansive, multi-domain operations, the Marine Corps will have to radically change the way it trains, service officers said May 12.
Col. James Kidd, director of range training programs for the service’s Training and Education Command, said when it comes to using emerging technologies such as long-range precision fires, loitering munitions and unmanned systems, “even at our most expansive range complexes, we’re quickly outrunning what we can do in those training areas.”
As far as the Marine Corps running out of “Large combat centers such as Twentynine Palms, California,” I’d like to point out that according to an official federal government website, MilitaryOneSource.gov, the massive Marine base in the high desert is “more than 1,100 square miles.”
The same website states that nearby Camp Pendleton is 125,000 square acres. That’s 195 square miles.
But wait, there’s more.
Again, from the same federal website noted above, the US Army’s National Training Center, also in the High Desert of California is “almost 1,000 square miles”.
The official website of the US Navy’s Naval Air Weapons Station in China Lake, Ca., “In total, its two ranges and main site cover more than 1.1 million acres, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.” That’s more than 1,718 square miles.
This hot wind emanating out of DC about how the Marine Corps doesn’t have “The square miles for honest and realistic training” is complete and total horseshit.
But now we get to the everything-nerdlinger MetaNews.com;
Several synthetic training programs have emerged, enabling military personnel to train in virtual environments. They combine elements of game consoles, flight simulators, and arcade games.
The US military is one of the earliest militaries in the world to adopt the metaverse. The body launched a metaverse project that provides a realistic combat experience. One such program is Project Tripoli, a US Marine Corps program training soldiers on coordinating actions and weapons integration.
Project Tripoli: War training in the metaverse
Media reports revealed that Project Tripoli provides the Marines with a virtual environment that radically changes their training by exposing them to emerging technologies.
The spokesperson of Training and Education Command, U.S. Marine Corps, Capt. Phillip Parker reportedly said:
“Project Tripoli will provide the Marine Corps with a virtual environment that embeds with live training for Marines to gain experience with emerging systems and capabilities across all domains.”
I’m quite sure that all this virtual training is quite the money saver.
I’m also quite sure that the future widows, orphans and grieving parents of those killed due to lack of realistic training will take quite the comfort in that knowledge.