Marines may deploy with allies’ ships
This story sounds really weird, USAToday claims that US Marines may go down to the sea in other countries’ ships because of a shortage of US vessels.
The initiative is a stopgap way to deploy Marines aboard ships overseas until more American vessels are available, said Brig. Gen. Norman Cooling, deputy commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa.
[…]
The U.S. Navy has 30 amphibious ships but says it needs 38 to fulfill war fighting requirements. It won’t reach that level until 2028 because of budget constraints, according to the Navy.
Critics say the Navy has allowed its amphibious capabilities to decline.
[…]
Much of the Navy’s current amphibious fleet is being used in the Pacific…Fighting in Ukraine and chaos in Libya have raised concerns about the need for forces who can respond quickly to events in Europe and Africa.
When I think of getting support from our allies, I think of Mogadishu where the troops there were dependent on Pakistani armor to extract them from any difficulties that they might encounter. That didn’t turn out like we planned. It puts our foreign policy at the mercy of the policies of other countries…folks who act in their own interests, not ours.
Yeah, it looks like a result of piss poor planning at the Pentagon, the White House and Congress. This is what a “peace dividend” looks like.
Category: Marine Corps
I am beside myself. Fucking unbelievable!
Thanks, Dear Leader!
And I’m sure our wonderful SecNav will come up with some bullshit to polish this turd.
I don’t know about you, but I sure would like to vote this asshole in for another four years….then we could depend on Haiti’s navy to help us out.
BO would love that!
Well, gee whiz, guys, what were you expecting from bodaprez?
Actual planning? Respect for the military? Something besides overpriced meals and golfing vacations?
Fer Pete’s sake, home defense has to take a back seat to those things! (sarc)
Future poser claim: “I was there! I deployed on the HMS FillInTheBlank. The Brits screwed up my records!”
On a similar note, AN-124s have been supplementing US airlift for years –
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Jun/02/mn/mn01a.html
Remember the Seven P’s
Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
At least I remember them. But leadership. . . . .
Yeah, Leadership …
But first, ya gotta want to.
No, this isn’t what a ‘peace dividend’ looks like; this is what UTTER ASSANINE STUPIDITY looks like.
Well, the Brits do have beer aboard. That is at lest something good about it. A few hundred U.S. Marines would never find the keys to the locker. May I suggest they beef up security.
I figured out why the British tried to conquer the world. They were simply in search of a decent meal. MRE’s and Beer, that doesn’t sound all that bad.
We may need other people’s planes, and now other peoples’ ships, but thank God we at least have our own rockets into space! … oh, wait….
And this is why I never throw away stuff that my wife wants me to trash. You never know when that Liberty ship will come in handy.
This is a fucking national embarrassment but you have to applaud the Marine Corps for doing what they need to do to complete the mission.
Thanks Guard. The Marines. Undermanned, Understaffed, Underequipped since 1775. Oohh-Rah! I here that they have beer tho. That is, if the Marines are allowed to have any… Oops, sorry Devils. Sucks to be you on this op…
Hmmm. Can think of several legitimate reasons why US forces might need to be aboard a foreign ship. Can think of NO reasons why it should be publicized. What’s next? Will they announce departure info in detail? Oh, wait…
Has anybody ever had the experience of depending on a ‘friend’ for a ride, or you go out of town with them, and you end up doing something or going someplace you didn’t expect because you’re the passenger? Think about that situation with our Marines in someone else’s boat for just a second.
If it became a critical issue, we could press passenger liners or even cargo ships into service to move troops, like was done in WWII. I really think it’s a VERY bad idea to put any of our military forces at the mercy of someone else’s naval command — and abilities.
PS Aren’t most/all ships amphibious? Well, other than airships.
” … folks who act in their own interests, not ours”
Why, oh why, does Washington, DC never seem to get that!? Oh, wait … that would require some Integrity in the first place. My bad.
Not to mention, a functioning brain.
Those of you old enough to remember the Carter administration will remember that Reagan built the 600 ship navy. It only took 20 odd years to get back to Carters Navy. No matter who the next president is, I am afraid that they won’t feel that Amphibious Assault Ships are sexy enough to spend money on. We could have built all of them we needed for the cost of the Obamaphone program, or the money wasted on the healthcare.gov website.
Now,now We have to pay those AMTRAK employees putting in 40 hour workdays.
http://freebeacon.com/issues/amtrak-employees-claimed-to-work-40-hours-per-day/
Outsourcing taken to the next level.
What next? Using foreign armies to provide for the common defense?
Unfucking believable! I don’t want OUR troops left in the hands and host of any ally. Period. Their ship with their Captain aboard, is their Lord at sea. To do as HE wants, despite any orders from our Clueless-In-Chief. I do not like this. Screw that F-35 and get the Marines the ships they need!
Anybody in the surface navy will tell you gator freighters are the most poorly maintained of all surface ships because they are starved of maintenance money. They have little to nothing that goes boom, they’re not fast and detract from the real surface navy objective of chasing the carrier around and playing alpha whiskey. Then there’s the animosity between the navy and Marine Corps. That doesn’t help much either. Finally, the navy’s propensity to build gold plated stuff (think LPD17, LCS, DDG1000 and CVN78) ensures the ship building budget will always be too small to adequately address fleet requirements. But putting Marines on the ships of foreign navies, for anything other than training exercises, is just plain stupid. Here’s a solution, buy those two frog amphibs that Putin isn’t getting if the situation is that bad (which it is). Poof, two more large deck amphibs. Plenty of space for the Marines to PT, clean weapons and stand in line for the ship’s store.