Compass Points - FRAGO - Global
Combined arms, air, ground task forces.
Compass Points - FRAGO - Global
Combined arms, air, ground task forces.
April 12, 2024
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There are good words in the Commandant's frag order. In the section, "How We Fight" the very first sentence is, "We are and will remain a naval expeditionary force that fights from the sea as task-organized combined arms air-ground task forces." Later in that same section are the words, "a globally present and persistent force." Wise words.
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This is what the Nation expects from the Marine Corps. Americans demand that their Marine Corps remain forever on patrol on the world's oceans, ready to arrive at a crisis and assist, deter, and fight. Americans know, deep in their hearts, the truth of a slightly different version of the well-known George Orwell quote, "People sleep soundly in their beds at night only because Marines stand guard ready to do violence on their behalf."
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The Marine Corps makes a promise when it talks of remaining a globally present and persistent naval expeditionary force that fights from the sea as task organized combined arms, air ground task forces. For the Marine Corps to keep this promise there is work to be done.
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For example, there is still currently no Marine Expeditionary Unit in the Mediterranean. In that troubled area, US policy makers have no Marine option. The Pacific is also missing a full MEU. When Marines are not on patrol as they need to be, it opens the door to our adversaries. Over the years the Marine MEUs on patrol have gone from "globally present and persistent" to small gaps in global presence, to now large gaps in global presence.
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It is not just that the MEUs are missing, it is that the source of the MEUs, the much larger Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEF), are not as robust as they need to be. The MEFs are the repository of Marine capabilities. Without robust MEFs there are no robust MEUs. In addition, when a crisis grows, the MEUs must be able to be augmented and reinforced by other Marines. That requires Maritime Prepositioning Ships and Marine fly in echelons. But both are far below where they need to be.
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There is no sadder story about the readiness of the Navy and Marine Corps team than the story of the USS Boxer. On April 1, 2024 USNI news reported that after a long delay, the USS Boxer was finally setting sail.
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Amphibious warship USS Boxer (LHD-4) departed from San Diego, Calif., on Monday for a delayed deployment with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, two defense officials confirmed to USNI News. Boxer left San Diego Bay in the early afternoon with sailors manning the rails, according to photos from ship spotters. The big deck is the flagship of the three-ship Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, which includes USS Somerset (LPD-25) and USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49).
. . . Last year, Boxer was the subject of at least two command investigations that found major deficiencies in its engineering department. Investigators found that poorly disciplined sailors were responsible for several engineering breakdowns. It’s unclear whether the poor performance of the engineering department contributed to the deployment delay. Two defense officials told USNI News that the material condition of Boxer was a major factor in the split deployment of the ARG that required Somerset to deploy alone.
-- USNI News
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Unfortunately, the USNI report was apparently only an elaborate April Fools joke. Now USNI News is reporting that the USS Boxer has turned around and is steaming back to San Diego, "USS Boxer deployment delayed again, Navy says more repairs needed."
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The USS Boxer is not the only thing that needs repair. The Force Design 2030 theory about placing small units of missile Marines on islands in the Pacific is an idea that has grown stale. Creating the Marine Littoral Regiments has reduced the combined arms combat power of the MEFs. Infantry, air, armor, combat bridging and breaching, have all been grievously degraded or lost entirely. And while the Marines have been focusing almost completely on China in the Pacific, other threats to the US have been growing, including Iran, North Korea, and Russia to name just three.
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How serious are these other threats? One is example comes from The Institute for the Study of War which has issued a recent assessment about Russia.
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US European Command (EUCOM) Commander and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Chistopher Cavoli reported that EUCOM and NATO are strengthening their ability to respond to the “chronic threat” that Russia poses to global stability and European security in hopes of deterring future Russian aggression against NATO. Cavoli stated during a briefing to the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on April 10 that Russia poses a “chronic threat” to the world and warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not intend to limit or stop his aggression at the borders of Ukraine.[18] Cavoli reported that EUCOM is responding to the Russian threat by enhancing its deterrence posture across Europe, including strengthening EUCOM’s eastern flank with rotational force deployments, expanding EUCOM’s pre-positioned stocks, and modernizing EUCOM’s infrastructure to enable a rapid reception of reinforcing forces.
Cavoli stated that EUCOM and NATO are exercising extensively to demonstrate their ability to defend against and deter future Russian aggression against NATO. Cavoli noted that China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia are forming “interlocking, strategic partnerships” that are antithetical to US national security interests and aim to challenge the existing global security framework. Kremlin officials, particularly Putin, are increasingly contextualizing the war in Ukraine as part of a long-term geopolitical confrontation between Russia and the West in order to justify Russia’s long-term war effort in Ukraine and future Russian aggression against other European countries.
-- ISW Assessment
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China remains a critical threat, but the issue is not only China. There are growing threats from Russia, Iran, North Korea, and others. US policy makers need worldwide options. They need Marines forward deployed around the globe. Compass Points salutes the Commandant for his words in the frag order: "We are and will remain a naval expeditionary force that fights from the sea as task-organized combined arms air-ground task forces." And the words, "a globally present and persistent force.” Those are good words. But to keep that promise, it will take more than words. It will take a new focus and considerable work to re-balance the Marine Corps, re-balance the MAGTF, and rebuild the amphib and MPS fleets to get Marines back on global patrol. Where to begin? Perhaps someone could finally fix the USS Boxer!
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US Marine Corps
FRAGO 01-2024
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ISW Research - 04/11/2024
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 11, 2024
By Christina Harward, Nicole Wolkov, Angelica Evans, Riley Bailey, and Frederick W. Kagan
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USNI News - 04/01/2024
USS Boxer Leaves on Delayed Deployment, First for Marine Amphibious Combat Vehicle
By Sam LaGrone
It is past time for senior Marine leaders to stop spouting the nonsense that the “new combined arms” consists of cyber, information operations, and loitering munitions. No other military in the world takes this unsupportable position and neither do well-schooled and experienced US professionals. As others have said, though of great value, none of these new approaches do what armor, cannon artillery, and combat engineers do so well.
The Commandant needs to use the time-tested combat development process to “rebalance” the force. The Wolf has no doubt but what that process would soon produce operational requirement documents for modern mobile, protected, direct-fire weapons to support infantry, vehicle mounted cannon artillery, armored breaching systems, and modern assault bridging.
Returning the Corps to its traditional role as a maritime combined arms air-ground-logistics task force able to scale from a MEU to a MEB to a MEF will take time, probably more than a decade but it is time to get started!
Words/Phrases MIA: "Amphibious Assault" "Counter-Offensive"
Two fundamental elements of national strategy when a Nation chooses to be on the strategic defense:
1) Credible Global Presence
2) Credible Counteroffensive. Bluntly, the Nation must be perceived as having credible capabilities to "take back" what "snatch and grab" aggressors seize.
Having such credible capabilities actually serves to deter conflict and war.
Lacking them means continued deterioration of the global order. Whatever "narratives" ( suicidal koolaid) our military and civilian leaders choose to mix and serve to the American media and public is not being consumed by our adversaries. They can see diminished capabilities and national will.
Tragically, we are indeed "risking the war(s) we don't want." One day lives and treasure will be spent "buying" the capabilities squandered by "divest to invest."
See: https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3699662-risking-the-war-we-dont-want/.