Marines consider disbanding MARSOC

[Peter1469]

Marines consider disbanding MARSOC

It isn't that MARSOC does not perform- it does. It is the Marine status as under the Navy and the resulting budget woes. Many times in history the US considered ending the Corps in its entirety. Now some say it is time for MARSOC to go, and all of that money moved back to the Fleet Marines.

There is merit to this argument. MARSOC supports the USSOCOM- not the Marines. MARSOC could be folded back into the Marine Recon and Scout Snipers where they would directly support Marine and Naval operations.

If the Marine Corps is serious about getting ready to take on a near-peer enemy like China in the future, then it's time to fold its 13-year-old special operations command and apply those resources elsewhere.

At least that's the argument one retired Marine officer made this week while presenting ways the service can better prepare for large-scale naval operations – and it's causing quite a stir in the Marine Corps special operations community.



Dakota Wood, who worked as a strategist at Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command from 2012-2013, released a 60-page report on Thursday titled "Rebuilding America's Military: The United States Marine Corps." It was published by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank where Wood serves as senior research fellow for defense programs.


Facing relentless operational tempo and ongoing budget woes, the Marine Corps should reevaluate where it's spending resources, Wood writes. As part of that effort, he said service leaders should "strongly consider disestablishing [MARSOC]."


"It's a great outfit and they're doing great things, so this is not to disparage MARSOC," Wood told Military.com. "It's stepping back and saying, 'OK, Marine Corps, what are you supposed to be doing? And how are you using the resources that you have?'"


Wood's call to disband the command comes after the Marine Corps released its 2020 budget request, revealing plans to increase the number of MARSOC billets. But the 2,700 Marines already assigned to MARSOC do more to benefit U.S. Special Operations Command than they do the Marine Corps, Wood wrote.


"The Corps' commitment to MARSOC, while a boon to SOCOM and the good work it does for the country, is an opportunity cost for the Corps and the work that only it can do, as opposed to SOCOM's role and the contributions long made to its mission by the Army, Navy and Air Force," he said.


In a statement, MARSOC spokesman Maj. Nicholas Mannweiler said the command was aware of the Heritage report and its recommendations.

[Captdon]

I never understood why we needed two armies.

[Cthulhu]

I never understood why we needed two armies.

Different missions, different training.

Sent from my evil cell phone.