RSSGates Challenges Marine Corps’ Mission
Semper Fi Parents | January 28, 2011
The Marine Corps is facing a historic defeat at the hands of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and hardly anyone inside or outside the Corps seems to grasp what is happening.
On January 6, Gates disclosed a series of proposed budget cuts that included termination of an amphibious vehicle the Marines have been developing for 15 years. He said the vehicle cost too much — around $17 million per copy — and that the service therefore should extend the life of existing amphibious vehicles while searching for a more affordable replacement.
Gates stressed that, “This decision does not call into question the Marines’ amphibious assault mission.”
Taking that assurance at face value, prime contractor General Dynamics launched a campaign to convince Congress and the Obama Administration that buying a smaller number of the vehicles while upgrading current amphibious systems would be more cost-effective than canceling the program and starting over. Many backers of the Marine Corps on Capitol Hill seem favorably disposed to the idea. But what neither Congress nor the contractor seem to understand is that the Gates move isn’t really about the cost of one program. It’s about the cost of the whole “forcible entry” mission at the heart of the modern Marine Corps identity, and the desire of competing claimants on the Pentagon’s budget to use that money for other purposes.
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