The commandant of the Marine Corps stated the Marine Corps right now cannot do the things they are asked of to support expeditionary warfare because they are tasked elsewhere in Global War on Terror, but they will when they can.
Additionally, General Conway stated that the Marine Corps is becoming “Too Heavy” during the Sea Power Symposium at the Naval War College. He stated the Service is becoming like the Army.
"We have been operating along side them, intertwined with them, really over the last four, arguably, the last five years. That is a good thing, but in some regards it also has its negatives because we have grown heavier than ever before," he said.
Conway delivered his remarks during the roll-out of the much anticipated maritime strategy, the Navy, Marine Corps' and Coast Guard's vision for how the three services will operate in the changing global environment, interact with each other and with allies.
"We are an expeditionary force by our nature. We go down to the sea in ships. But right now we are very much taking on the profile of a second land Army," Conway said. "We have to go through what I call an expeditionary filter, when we come out of there, to get back to a lighter, faster more hard-hitting kind of capability that is deployable aboard our nation's ships. That is a necessary filter I think we will have to endure."
I think he is dead on. If everyone is super, than no one is! The Army and the Marines are and should be two distinct services with distinct missions.
MTH
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