Sunday, November 26, 2006
Military RhetIraq: Marine Commandant on Marine Readiness
Who: Marine General James Conway, Commandant of US Marine Corps
Source: United Press International
Quotes: From article titled, "Analysis: U.S. Marine Corps may expand"
The new commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps says the 180,000-strong Corps may need to expand its ranks to manage both the war on terror and any new contingencies, if the pace of current operations continues.
Gen. James Conway told reporters at the Pentagon Wednesday -- just eight days after his assumption of command -- that the Marine Corps is so tied up in counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan it cannot train and prepare as it should for conventional warfare.
"We're simply not as capable today as we were in 2001," Conway said.
The high demand for troops in Iraq means Marines are spending seven months in Iraq and just a little over that time back home before their unit deploys again. It is supposed to have 14 months to recover, retrain and spend time with their families -- a one-to-two ratio of deployed time to garrison time.
When garrison time is cut short, the Marine Corps has to give up something -- and that is training for traditional engagements.
"The Marine Corps' forte is combined arms maneuver battalion (operations)," Conway said. "We're not doing that. We're not operating together on that scale (to develop) the capability to deploy and win...like we were previously capable of doing," Conway said.
He said he is particularly concerned that artillerymen are losing their skills because they are being used as security forces or civilian affairs troops in Iraq, and headquarters operations are as prepared to plan and carry out a major contingency operation as they should be.
He also said the corps could surge if necessary for a major new offensive in Iraq -- one of the possibilities to change the downward slide in Iraq -- but not without suffering a degradation in daily operations later. Troops and equipment would fall below their normal pace of operations to recover, both physically and in terms of equipment repair and maintenance.
There are only two ways of remedying the strain on the force, Conway said: reducing the demand on troops or adding numbers to the Marine Corps.
Conway is concerned that the failure to make an ongoing, convincing case for the war will lead to the early withdrawal of troops before the job is done, and Iraq's government is capable of securing the country on its own.
"It's not our chore to win. It's our chore to help the Iraqis win," Conway said. "It is not progress that is happening as rapidly as we would like. It's a long slow process. Unfortunately the time we think it would take... is longer that the timeline we feel our country would support," he said.
Source: United Press International
Quotes: From article titled, "Analysis: U.S. Marine Corps may expand"
The new commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps says the 180,000-strong Corps may need to expand its ranks to manage both the war on terror and any new contingencies, if the pace of current operations continues.
Gen. James Conway told reporters at the Pentagon Wednesday -- just eight days after his assumption of command -- that the Marine Corps is so tied up in counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan it cannot train and prepare as it should for conventional warfare.
"We're simply not as capable today as we were in 2001," Conway said.
The high demand for troops in Iraq means Marines are spending seven months in Iraq and just a little over that time back home before their unit deploys again. It is supposed to have 14 months to recover, retrain and spend time with their families -- a one-to-two ratio of deployed time to garrison time.
When garrison time is cut short, the Marine Corps has to give up something -- and that is training for traditional engagements.
"The Marine Corps' forte is combined arms maneuver battalion (operations)," Conway said. "We're not doing that. We're not operating together on that scale (to develop) the capability to deploy and win...like we were previously capable of doing," Conway said.
He said he is particularly concerned that artillerymen are losing their skills because they are being used as security forces or civilian affairs troops in Iraq, and headquarters operations are as prepared to plan and carry out a major contingency operation as they should be.
He also said the corps could surge if necessary for a major new offensive in Iraq -- one of the possibilities to change the downward slide in Iraq -- but not without suffering a degradation in daily operations later. Troops and equipment would fall below their normal pace of operations to recover, both physically and in terms of equipment repair and maintenance.
There are only two ways of remedying the strain on the force, Conway said: reducing the demand on troops or adding numbers to the Marine Corps.
Conway is concerned that the failure to make an ongoing, convincing case for the war will lead to the early withdrawal of troops before the job is done, and Iraq's government is capable of securing the country on its own.
"It's not our chore to win. It's our chore to help the Iraqis win," Conway said. "It is not progress that is happening as rapidly as we would like. It's a long slow process. Unfortunately the time we think it would take... is longer that the timeline we feel our country would support," he said.
