The US military commitment to the Pacific was underlined in a White House meeting between the leaders of the US and Japan. But behind the scenes, this renewed focus on Asia has sparked a fierce debate within one of its most fabled military forces, writes defense analyst Jonathan Marcus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A bitter family row has erupted in one of the US military’s most hallowed institutions, the US Marine Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A host of its former senior commanders are lining up to attack the current leadership over plans for its reinvention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At issue is a plan to adapt the service for a potential conflict against China – a plan dubbed Force Design 2030. Almost from its inception, this plan has been under attack with a cohort of retired generals taking the unusual approach of going to the press to air their frustrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Retired senior officers have been meeting regularly; speaking at seminars and think tanks; and devising their own alternatives to a plan which they see as a disaster for the Marine Corps future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One prominent critic is the former US Navy Secretary and former Senator for Virginia, Jim Webb, who served as a Marine officer in the Vietnam War and ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, he described Force Design 2030 as “insufficiently tested” and “intrinsically flawed”. He warned that the plan “raised serious questions about the wisdom and long-term risk of dramatic reductions in force structure, weapons systems, and manpower levels in units that would take steady casualties in most combat scenarios”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what has got them all so upset? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Launched in 2020 by Marine Corps Commandant General David H Berger, the plan is intended to equip the Marines for a potential conflict with China in the Indo-Pacific region rather than counter-insurgency wars like Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new plan sees the Marines as fighting dispersed operations across chains of islands. Units will be smaller, and more spread out but packing a much bigger punch through a variety of new weapons systems. Huge amphibious landings like in World War Two or massive deployments on land – like in Iraq – will probably be things of the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US military commitment to the Pacific was underlined in a White House meeting between the leaders of the US and Japan. But behind the scenes, this renewed focus on Asia has sparked a fierce debate within one of its most fabled military forces, writes defense analyst Jonathan Marcus. A bitter family row has erupted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ld-wp73.template-help.com\/wordpress\/prod_3201\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ld-wp73.template-help.com\/wordpress\/prod_3201\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ld-wp73.template-help.com\/wordpress\/prod_3201\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ld-wp73.template-help.com\/wordpress\/prod_3201\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ld-wp73.template-help.com\/wordpress\/prod_3201\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ld-wp73.template-help.com\/wordpress\/prod_3201\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ld-wp73.template-help.com\/wordpress\/prod_3201\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ld-wp73.template-help.com\/wordpress\/prod_3201\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ld-wp73.template-help.com\/wordpress\/prod_3201\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ld-wp73.template-help.com\/wordpress\/prod_3201\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}