The US Marine Corps has seen its time and it is now the opportunity to sunset it and wish it well in memorium. Two historical moments have destroyed the efficacy and primacy of the USMC: missiles and the sad Commandant tenure of GEN David H. Berger who will be remembered as the man who murdered the Corps.
The US has not made a contested beach landing since Inchon in 1-19 September 1950 and the era of missiles has made the contested beach landing by maritime connectors and vertical envelopment a murderously expensive undertaking. The non-naval Houthis in Yemen have proven that US and allied naval surface power is a questionable enterprise peripheral to littorals.
It is time to lay the wreaths, acknowledge the contributions, stand to for the swansong and decommission the Corps.
References:
LtCol Thaddeus Drake, Jr. The Fantasy of MCDP 1: Is Maneuver Warfare Still Useful?
Ronald O’Rourke Navy Medium Landing Ship (LSM) (Previously Light Amphibious Warship [LAW]) Program: Background and Issues for Congress (R46374)
Smedley D. Butler War is a Racket
Patrick Van Horne Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps’ Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life
Heather Venable How the Few Became the Proud: Crafting the Marine Corps Mystique, 1874-1918
David J. Ulbrich Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of the Modern Marine Corps, 1936-1943
Brett A. Friedman 21st Century Ellis: Operational Art and Strategic Prophecy for the Modern Era
Bing West
No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah
Into the Fire: A Firsthand Account of the Most Extraordinary Battle in the Afghan War
The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the United States Marines
The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan
Email at cgpodcast@pm.me
Email at cgpodcast@pm.me.
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