Budget Fight: Marines vs. Army

As the military winds down operations in the Middle East, siblings in the Department of Defense family are beginning to fight amongst each other for their spot at the dinner table. At stake is the almighty budget: Currently, the Army’s strategy is to copy everything the Marines do.

The military is pivoting from the Middle East to the Asia-Pacific region. The idea is to counteract Chinese influence over the region by having small, rapidly deployable troops that are supported by small littoral boats, large carrier groups, and ample doses of air superiority. Protracted land battles are out. Quick disaster response is in.

The Army’s role is now nebulous. All of the things it is good at now have no place. The solution? Amphibious, jungle-warfare trained troops that move between various training exercises in different nations and are ready to deploy at a moment’s notice.

Too bad the Marines already do all of this.

“They’re trying to create a second Marine Corps in the Pacific,” said a Marine general, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the Army’s internal plans. “To save their budget, they want to build a force the nation doesn’t need.”

To be fair, Army generals say that the Middle East land wars, which would seem to the Army’s domain, included Marines as well.

One gets the feeling however that is naked inter-service squabbling, and that even the Army brass realizes they are grasping at straws:

U.S. Army officials believe an Army four-star general may be able to forge closer bonds with Asian army leaders. “There’s a shared understanding as army commanders,” Brooks said.

Right.

Because a Filipino field general won’t listen to a four-star Marine general when JL-2 missiles are flying in.

The two services are indeed complimentary in many ways, with the Army usually having more funding and more support structure in the field. (The handy guide is that Marines build outposts, while Soldiers build bases).

Still, the Army should focus on its own mission, and not that of others. The Army’s force projection the Pacific consists of its massive bases in South Korea. Perhaps it could find a way to work from there instead of creating a second Marine Corps.