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Something Old for Something New

By General Carl E. Mundy, Jr., USMC
November 1992
Proceedings
Vol. 118/11/1,077
Article
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GEN C. E. Mundy, Jr. Commandant of the Marine Corps

The shattering of the Soviet Union and the diminishing prospect of a war at sea—coupled with a resurgence of regional and littoral threats—have thrust the Naval ser­vices into a special position. The Navy and Marine Corps have embarked upon a no-holds-barred reassessment of our role in the nation’s defense and the types of capabil­ities we must field to perform that role. This reassessment is an integral part of the reorientation of our national mil­itary strategy, which requires an increased emphasis on use of the sea to project and sustain power ashore.

As we face revolutionary political-military change in the world, we shall have to provide armed forces to meet new challenges—with a smaller share of national resources than at any time in recent memory. Accordingly, we must focus on essentials to provide, as effectively and efficiently as possible, the type of defense and power-projection ca­pabilities we need.

In this new era, it is becoming increasingly difficult to foresee the origins of the next threats to U.S. interests.

We cannot base the development of our armed forces on our ability to predict the future with certainty. Rather, we must focus on developing versatile forces that are able to influence events and consequently able to help shape the future.

In this new environment, the unique capabilities of in­tegrated naval expeditionary forces have assumed increased importance. The spotlight is highlighting the types of ca­pabilities that the Navy and Marine Corps, in combina­tion, can provide.

Naval expeditionary forces can vary in size and com­position from elements of an amphibious squadron with an embarked Marine expeditionary unit (MEU) up to an expeditionary fleet, with multiple carrier and amphibious battle groups and embarked or supporting Marine forces. Regardless of size, all such forces are designed to serve on an integrated team. Common training, doctrine, equip­ment, and orientation allow them to be brought together quickly to meet unexpected requirements, tapping a reser­voir of dynamic capabilities that can be task-organized readily for a wide range of missions.

Naval aviation is an essential element in that expedi­tionary reservoir. Like their ground and surface counter­parts, Marine Corps and Navy aviation components are organized and equipped to be employed as an entity. To­gether, they provide interoperable aircraft that can be em­ployed from six types of naval bases: aircraft carriers, big- deck amphibious platforms, smaller amphibious ships, small landing pads ashore, expeditionary airfields, and conventional air bases. Naval aviation presents a highly mobile and versatile set of capabilities, and achieves its superb effectiveness through an integrated system of ex­peditionary logistics, interoperable command and control, movable bases, and highly trained aircrews and mainte­nance teams.

Naval expeditionary forces can be employed selectively,


Commentary


in a variety of ways—most often to project maximum combat power in minimum elapsed time. Such forward- deployed units as carriers and amphibious forces will often be the lead elements of the total U.S. force sent to the scene. They can be rapidly reinforced by other seaborne combat forces. Marine air and ground forces can be de­ployed by amphibious lift, maritime prepositioning ships, strategic airlift, or sealift—singly or in combination. Tak­ing full advantage of this deployment flexibility, the Ma­rine Corps has developed the concept of crisis-action mod­ules (CAMs), which are building blocks of forces that provide options for the sequential flow of Marine com­bat power to the combatant CinCs. Developed to support the requirements of adaptive planning, CAMs provide a planning framework for using all means of strategic mo­bility to deploy and build Marine Air-Ground Task Forces.

The extraordinary range and versatility of capabilities provided by integrated Navy-Marine Corps forces make them particularly useful to the CinCs and the nation in today’s strategic environment. Self-sustaining and adapt­able, they assist greatly in attaining joint-force expansion.

Carrying their sustainment with them—in ships that amount to movable sea bases—naval expeditionary forces can loiter on station in crisis areas for extended periods while decision makers determine whether, how, and when to respond. During Operation Sharp Edge, a naval expe­ditionary force remained off the coast of war-torn Liberia for seven months, as U.S. leaders monitored the situation. When the shifting tides of war placed U.S. citizens in harm’s way, Marine ground forces were deployed ashore to provide added security for the embassy, and 2,400 non­combatants were evacuated to the ships.

Seabasing also allows naval expeditionary forces to pro­ject credible force rapidly, when required. Furthermore, they arrive in a theater with all the supplies and equip­ment needed for extended operations. During Desert Shield, the 7th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, equipped with tanks that were offloaded from maritime preposi­tioning ships, brought the first significant ground-defense capability into Saudi Arabia.

Naval expeditionary capabilities are adaptable to a wide range of missions. For example, the 5th Marine Expedi­tionary Brigade, embarked in ships of Amphibious Group Three, was on its way home from combat operations in the Persian Gulf when a tropical cyclone smashed the coast of Bangladesh. The task force was diverted quickly to con­duct humanitarian-relief operations. Its logistics capabil­ities, medical facilities, water-producing equipment, he­licopters and air-cushion landing craft were adapted to fight different—but still deadly—enemies: famine and dis­ease. In this case, the light footprint of seabased logistics allowed the amphibious task forces to conduct operations without burdening a victimized nation whose infrastruc­ture had been devastated.

Beyond such power-projection and humanitarian mis­sions, a forward-operating naval task force is the only force routinely deployed that provides a CinC with both conventional and special-operations capabilities—and car­ries the aircraft to do both. The inherent special-opera­tions capabilities of a Marine expeditionary unit offer the­

ater commanders a ready and effective means of dealing with many challenges. Although not specifically desig­nated special-operations forces, but rather a conventional force capable of selected maritime special operations, a MEU’s Maritime Special Purpose Force, composed of Marines and SEALs, is capable of performing specified special-operations missions that offer the CinC and the National Command Authority an instant response to sit­uations, until national assets arrive on the scene. For ex­ample, in the recent past Marines from forward operat­ing MEUs (Special Operations Capable) have launched amphibious raids against Falaka Island in the Persian Gulf, flown 450 miles over water at night to extract diplomats from strife-torn Somalia, and conducted operations to search for survivors of an Italian aircraft shot down over Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Navy-Marine Corps forces are shaped to participate in, or lead, joint-force operations. Because they include forces that operate in the air, on land, and on sea—and have the capability to command and control such forces—-a CinC can easily expand naval forces into a somewhat larger joint task force, with the addition of multi-service ground and air units. During Operation Provide Comfort, a Marine expeditionary unit served as the nucleus for a joint task force. Recent initiatives will further enhance the ability of naval expeditionary command elements to lead multi-dimensional combined-arms forces.

Moreover, the ability of naval forces to dominate the battle space in littoral regions makes them effective en­abling forces in joint or combined operations. They can seize or defend ports and airfields of entry for the buildup of follow-on forces. They can accomplish this through amphibious forcible entry or through the deployment of maritime prepositioning ships to a port.

With these unique capabilities, naval expeditionary forces allow the United States to be proactive rather than reactive. The day-to-day presence of U.S. forces in re­gions of vital national interest is the key to influencing events, containing crises and preventing war. Forward op­erating forces show our commitment, lend credibility to our allies, enhance regional stability and provide rapid, on-scene crisis response if necessary.

Thus, naval expeditionary forces of combined arms are ideally suited to the new international environment, and will play a crucial role in projecting U.S. influence and defending our national interests. The nation needs the com­bat-tested capabilities of its Navy and Marine Corps— now, more than ever! We must ensure that those capa­bilities are prepared to meet the challenges of the future.

As the euphoria brought about by the end of the Cold War settles into a realistic awareness of current and fu­ture defense challenges, we must seize this opportunity to maintain and enhance one of the most relevant, ready, and time-tested capabilities this nation owns—forward- operating, expeditionary naval forces. The 1990s—and beyond—truly will become the golden era of naval force capabilities.

General Mundy is the 30th Commandant of the Marine Corps.

Digital Proceedings content made possible by a gift from CAPT Roger Ekman, USN (Ret.)

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