Compass Points - DAX MAGTF - Part 2
Keep the promise to be there.
Compass Points - DAX MAGTF - Part 2
Keep the promise to be there.
August 12, 2023
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Imagine a civilian firefighting company, the whole team at their fire station, trained, ready, and eager for action. They wait and wait. Then the alarm goes off. They dress in their boots and jackets and slide down the pole. It is time to get going. But when they get to the bottom of the pole, the fire truck is not there. They have no transportation. They cannot get to the fire.
When the alarm goes off, when a new crisis blazes, it is not enough for the fire fighters to be ready, they must be there. The same is true for the Marine Corps. It is the responsibility of the Marine Corps to train and equip forces for the next crisis. But it is not enough for Marines to be ready. When a crisis is blazing, Marines must be there.
Marines today do not have the amphibious lift they need to patrol the seas so they can be nearby whenever the next alarm goes off. Worse, there is no quick way to build large numbers of new amphibious ships.
There are new ideas being discussed to make sure when the next alarm sounds, the Marines are not just ready, they are there. One of the new ideas, as discussed on Compass Points, is the DAX MAGTF.
DAX -- Designated Amphibious Experimental -- MAGTFs are designed to provide direct support to the five regional Combatant Commands outside North America: Europe, Africa, Central, Southern, and Indo-Pacific. The traditional ARG-MEUs would continue in general support, but, in addition, the goal being discussed is that each regional Combatant Command would have in their region their own DAX MAGTF.
Each DAX MAGTF is a combination response force and pre-positioned force and includes tailored Marine infantry, air, and logistics embarked on Navy ships. Each DAX MAGTF embarks on one Navy Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) and two Navy Expeditionary Fast Transports (EPF). The ESBs and Fast Transports are already built. They are available now. The Navy's Military Sealift Command reports they have more than a dozen Fast Transports available.
USNS Apalachicola
USNS City Of Bismarck
USNS Brunswick
USNS Burlington
USNS Carson City
USNS Choctaw County
USNS Fall River
USNS Millinocket
USNS Newport
USNS Puerto Rico
USNS Spearhead
USNS Trenton
USNS Yuma
Could Marines make good use of the Fast Transports? Here is how Military Sealift Command describes them,
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The Expeditionary Fast Transports, T-EPFs, are high-speed, shallow draft ships capable of intra-theater personnel and cargo lift for the armed services.
Each T-EPF has a reconfigurable 20,000 square-foot mission bay that can quickly adapt to provide high-speed, agile lift capability to deliver operationally ready units to small, austere ports and flexibly support a wide range of missions including humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, theater security cooperation, maritime domain awareness and noncombatant evacuations. The design features a flight deck capable of landing a CH-53 helicopter, a stern ramp for vehicle access to the mission deck, and seating for 312 passengers. Able to reach speeds of more than 35 knots, they enable the rapid transit and deployment of conventional and special forces, equipment and supplies in support of maneuver and sustainment operations.
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One of the many problems with the old idea of putting Marines on defense, on a Maginot line of islands in the Pacific, is that it reduces the availability of Marines to Combatant Commanders worldwide. Focusing the Marine Corps on one region takes the Marine Corps away from a broader range of worldwide responsibilities.
The DAX MAGTFs give the Marines Corps the ability to have Marines available worldwide. Combatant Commanders would soon take ownership of their DAX Marines. The DAX MAGTF would get to the crisis first and then could be rapidly reinforced, if needed, by the nearest ARG-MEU, another nearby DAX MAGTF, Maritime Pre-positioned Ships, Fly-in-Echelons, and more.
The ESBs and Fast Transports would not continually sail back and forth to the United States. They would be home ported in the Combatant Command's region. Ship’s crew and Marines would be flown in so the DAX MAGTF would be always ready and always there.
Henry Kissinger was quoted as saying when he was serving in the White House and a foreign crisis arose, the first two questions asked were, "Where are the carriers and where are the Marines?"
With the DAX MAGTFs deployed around the globe, the regional Combat Commanders, when a crisis arises, will ask, "Where are my DAX Marines?"
A community can have the best fire fighters in the world, trained and ready. But if those fire fighters cannot get to the fire, it does not matter how ready they are. The same is true for Marines. It is important for Marines to be ready, but they also must keep the promise to be there.
Compass Points salutes all those working to get Marines deployed on the ESBs and Fast Transports so that, once again, Marines can be constantly on patrol around the globe.
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Compass Points - Attack of the DAX
First, focus on what the customer wants.
August 11, 2023
https://marinecorpscompasspoints.substack.com/p/compass-points-attack-of-the-dax
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US Navy
Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB)
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Navy - Military Sealift Command
Expeditionary Fast Transport (PM8)
https://www.msc.usff.navy.mil/Ships/Expeditionary-Fast-Transport-PM8/
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Found this on Wikipedia - Expeditionary Mobile Base (ESB) vessels serve to support special forces missions, counter-piracy/smuggling operations, maritime security operations, and mine clearance, as well as humanitarian aid and disaster relief missions. Sounds great for the Marines as a 911 force. Team it with a couple EPFs and a designated Meu MAGTF add a little training to include amphibious raids and the Combatant Commanders are all set. (until the Navy can square away its amphibious ship building plan).
Interesting that the entire Corps was divested of personnel, equipment, and force structure to create A SINGLE purpose force capability for approximately 1/3 of the Corps while simultaneously diminishing the assets/capability of the rest of the Corps. This mismatch of a 1/3 single purpose force and a diminished 2/3 general purpose force comes with challenges that have yet to be resolved or considered such as amphibious lift, logistics, budget, and limited utility to combatant commanders.