Behind the cover: Cutting 20,000 Marines
February 7th, 2012 | Behind the Cover budget Force Structure Review Manpower | Posted by Andrew deGrandpre
Throughout the Corps, anxiety is high as Marines and their families wait to learn how the commandant intends to execute massive force cuts ordered in January by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. And their uneasiness certainly is justified. The reality is that over the next five years, the service will purge some 20,000 from the active-duty force — about as many as it added during the latter part of the last decade to sustain operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
This week’s cover story, which was co-reported by Marines Corps Times’ senior staff writers Gina Cavallaro and Dan Lamothe, examines how the drawdown is expected to take shape and what means the service will employ in reducing overall end strength by 3,500-5,000 personnel a year, as the top Marine, Gen. Jim Amos, has forecast. It analyzes future force structure also, and how budget cuts will drive the elimination of units and diminish certain capabilities. As Marine Corps Times first reported last week, officials now are looking beyond last year’s force structure review, which accounts for about 15,000 personnel cuts, with thoughts of axing some light armored reconnaissance assets and an additional infantry battalion while dialing back planned expansion of the Corps’ special operations command.
A companion piece, reported by staff writer James K. Sanborn, looks at the future of the Marine Corps Reserve. Although it’s not targeted for personnel cuts, smaller budgets could influence training deployments in the coming years, according to the Reserve’s three-star commander.
All in all, it’s vital career news for Marines everywhere. The issue is on newsstands now. To read it immediately, subscribe to our digital edition.
Is a new Marine command coming to Bahrain?
May 10th, 2011 | Force Structure Review General officers Leadership | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Gen. James Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command, shares a laugh with other regional delegates at the International Institute for Strategic Studies' Manama Dialogue in Manama, Bahrain, in December. (Defense Department photo)
If you browsed Marine Corps Times’ website today, odds are good that you saw my story about the Corps launching two new Marine expeditionary brigade headquarters capable of leading joint task forces in times of crises.
Most of the information comes from an interview last month with Lt. Gen. George Flynn, deputy commandant for combat development and integration. As head of the Marine Corps Force Structure Review, he’s one of the few Marines around right now in position to describe some of the heavily anticipated changes expected as the Corps resets for life in the 21st century.
Flynn said the Corps has begun to develop new, one-star MEB headquarters that will be called on in times of crises to lead joint task forces. Forces will be called on as necessary, with one MEB falling under Marine Corps Forces Central Command and the other falling under Marine Corps Forces Africa Command. Combined, those two regions cover most of the world’s unstable countries.
There’s at least one thread that isn’t clear, however: While officials acknowledge the plan is to base the MARCENT MEB at MARFORAF headquarters in Germany, they are more tight-lipped about the plan for the one in MARCENT and U.S. Central Command.
“I think the final location for the MARCENT MEB will have to be decided by a joint working group between headquarters Marine Corps and the Central Command,” Flynn said. “I think it’s too early to say where the flag is going to be permanently planted.”
When you circle back to the planning guidance now-retired Commandant Gen. James Conway issued last summer, however, one possible plan becomes more clear. Officers planning for the future were directed to expect the Corps would “establish a forward headquarters, with enablers, for U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Central Command in Bahrain.”
The guidance also said Marine leadership had decided to “establish one or more one-star level JTF headquarters within the combatant commands” while ensuring the rest of the Corps received adequate resources.
CENTCOM, commanded by Gen. James Mattis, is based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. So is MARCENT. There are other MARCENT elements in Bahrain, however, and a company of Marines with Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team is based there to assist in embassy reinforcement and other missions that are needed in CENTCOM’s area of operations.
Adding to the intrigue, it was expected that Brig. Gen. Brian Beaudreault, the Corps’ deputy director of MARCENT, would be stationed in Bahrain, according to a newspaper report written from his promotion ceremony last summer. The event was attended by Assistant Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford.
Regardless of the outcome, it appears the Corps will put an increased emphasis on getting to crises first, something that already was a strength due to the service’s Marine expeditionary units. It’ll be interesting to see how all this plays out in coming months.