In the Marine Corps Times article: "Marine 3-star: Technology remade combined arms, the Corps must adjust (MCT 5/6/22)" General Karsten Heckl suggests that combined arms has evolved and the Corps must transform to fight and win." He goes on to argue that "Combined arms is more than towed artillery, tanks, and aviation...Its information, cyber, and space." I wonder, when a future Marine is calling for an artillery mission or requesting tank support, they'll be satisfied knowing he can count on info war, cyber, and space warfare? While the General has changed the definition for the time-honored combined arms term, it does nothing for the Marines on "death ground"(Death Ground: Today's American Infantry in Battle-Colonel Daniel Bolger USA) fighting to take an objective. While information, cyber, and space may be strategic assets to shape the theater, I don't think they will have much direct impact on the immediate battlefield. Marines on the ground will still always need the ground combat triad: infantry, artillery, and armor. With regards to armor, there has been much discussion on this issue from the pro-FD advocates. They use the current war in Ukraine as an example of tanks being easily destroyed in combat by small antitank weapons. But on further examination, it has been shown that many times Russian tanks were not supported by infantry or artillery. In the fight in Gaza, the Israelis have learned from their mistakes of the Yom Kippur War of fighting tanks by themselves. They are using tank-infantry teams to fight in the rubble. Thus, the need once again for the traditional combined arms team of: infantry, artillery, and armor.
The words of Lt. Gen. Heckl and others who have uttered similar nonsense are indications of a lack of professional knowledge. They have not studied and thought deeply about warfare and are unqualified for the positions they hold. General Gray never tolerated this sort of dribble. At a time in history when we need giants in the mold of Generals Wilson, Barrow, and Gray we have professional and intellectual midgets.
I first met Colonel Ripley when he was CO, 1/2, 2dMarDiv. I was “Skipper” of I/3/2. I was then - and, have remained to this day - deeply impressed by his gentlemanly bearing and professional capacity. He manifested Gen. LeJeune’s instruction regarding proper relations in leadership: Master to scholar; father to son. We were all blessed to have had him in our ranks. Continued Fair Winds & Following Seas! Semper Fidelis!
The leadership today seems to forget that in their profession, the award for second place is a body bag. There will be no time for trial and error. Semper Fi
The opening of the book “Fields of Fire” by Jim Webb has a Marine Corps tank stranded in a rice paddy and a Marine Rifle Platoon in the defense around and supporting the tank as afternoon is waning into night. The fire fight that ensues is instructive on many levels. But the tank and infantry were for better or worse combined and mutually supporting. This is basic early days TBS stuff. Yet the supporters of FD whatever ignore this fact. That armor in the Ukraine is having impact is clear for both sides. least wise why would NATO be shoving their main battle tanks including the USA Abrams into theater. Anyone who doesn’t think armor is effective in a built up urban environment should find Marines that fought in the Battle of Hue City. In fact beyond the tanks they employed the tracked M-50 Ontos. 6 direct fire 106 recoiless rifles mounted on a lightly armored tracked vehicle. “Fire the 106!” They can play mind games about the supporting cyber world, but as in all Greek tragedies “cyber and drones” are merely the haunting and troubling chorus to the main very tragic protagonists who supported and persist in supporting the 38th and apparently the 39th Commandant in their head long rush to defeat in detail in every aspect of Marine life and it’s very existence. If you can’t keep black mold out of the barracks how can you be trusted with anything greater than a wet mop and bucket of hot water and Mr. Clean, and detailed supervision on its employment in the head? Exactly. You can’t.
Charles you are exactly right. Combined arms instruction is basic TBS stuff. I cannot believe anyone would disagree with this concept or try to alter it.
I do not remember loading any sort of bridging assets or MP's on a MEU . Tanks were always fun to load. Sometimes necessitated the DCA to flood some ballast to keep the ship trimmed!
One of the issues I had as a Combat Cargo Officer was Marine Corps equipment got so large! Trying to maintain the required overhead clearance for firefighting equipment...it was very much like the proverbial 10 lbs of --- in a 5 lbs bag.
I am not an artillery guy. I was a Recon Marine in my early days in the Corps then an Embarkation/Logistics Specialist (and quite frankly I was a bigger asset to the Corps as the former!!).
So I always wondered why the Corps never seriously looked at the Hawkeye M105 system.
I once did a notional MEU load out using these systems instead of the M777's and 7 ton truck prime mover. 6 tubes and their respective movers, along with the rest of their material was a HUG load on the ship. I figured that they could have 12 of the Hawkeye M105 systems vice 6 M777's in the same space. M105's are so damned versatile. With the number of differing types of rounds available, and the ability of the system to do point blank firing, seems to me to be a very reasonable alternative.
I also have looked at the Hawkeye 105, and see it as very versatile. Another piece to look at is the Brutus 155, which is the 777 mounted on an Army 5ton. In an age of needed mobility, these would be very beneficial.
Like Bud Meador, I was in Mike 3/2 in early spring of 1979, when Colonel Ripley arrived and took command of 1/2. To say that a brand new wind swept across 1/2 would be an understatement. To a young platoon commander in Mike 3/2 a living legend had arrived. There were a few instances when our officers call on a Friday afternoon coincided with 1/2. As it would go after “ just two beers” the intermingling in the big O Club bar would commence. Like Bud, my recall is that Colonel Ripley truly enjoyed being around young officers and saw these off beat moments to lead and instruct rather casually, humorously and with a third beer in his hand. One reason to be pathologically optimistic that Chowder Society II and its supporters will prevail is because as Colonel Ripley opined “one person can make a difference.” Well we are not just one person and without doubt can make a difference. Some in current senior Marine Corps leadership keep trying to make us “old thinkers go away.” Well apparently not so fast because we now in addition to OUR. generals and OUR senior leadership, have gained a weapon in the guise of a mother and wife of Marines who gave the current CMC a rather strongly worded letter that he and others can’t ignore. One person turns into many. Iron will and one direction sharpens other iron will in a principal of war “Mass” and the force shoves off, in search of armor, arty, bridging, snipers and so forth, undaunted.
In the Marine Corps Times article: "Marine 3-star: Technology remade combined arms, the Corps must adjust (MCT 5/6/22)" General Karsten Heckl suggests that combined arms has evolved and the Corps must transform to fight and win." He goes on to argue that "Combined arms is more than towed artillery, tanks, and aviation...Its information, cyber, and space." I wonder, when a future Marine is calling for an artillery mission or requesting tank support, they'll be satisfied knowing he can count on info war, cyber, and space warfare? While the General has changed the definition for the time-honored combined arms term, it does nothing for the Marines on "death ground"(Death Ground: Today's American Infantry in Battle-Colonel Daniel Bolger USA) fighting to take an objective. While information, cyber, and space may be strategic assets to shape the theater, I don't think they will have much direct impact on the immediate battlefield. Marines on the ground will still always need the ground combat triad: infantry, artillery, and armor. With regards to armor, there has been much discussion on this issue from the pro-FD advocates. They use the current war in Ukraine as an example of tanks being easily destroyed in combat by small antitank weapons. But on further examination, it has been shown that many times Russian tanks were not supported by infantry or artillery. In the fight in Gaza, the Israelis have learned from their mistakes of the Yom Kippur War of fighting tanks by themselves. They are using tank-infantry teams to fight in the rubble. Thus, the need once again for the traditional combined arms team of: infantry, artillery, and armor.
The words of Lt. Gen. Heckl and others who have uttered similar nonsense are indications of a lack of professional knowledge. They have not studied and thought deeply about warfare and are unqualified for the positions they hold. General Gray never tolerated this sort of dribble. At a time in history when we need giants in the mold of Generals Wilson, Barrow, and Gray we have professional and intellectual midgets.
I first met Colonel Ripley when he was CO, 1/2, 2dMarDiv. I was “Skipper” of I/3/2. I was then - and, have remained to this day - deeply impressed by his gentlemanly bearing and professional capacity. He manifested Gen. LeJeune’s instruction regarding proper relations in leadership: Master to scholar; father to son. We were all blessed to have had him in our ranks. Continued Fair Winds & Following Seas! Semper Fidelis!
The leadership today seems to forget that in their profession, the award for second place is a body bag. There will be no time for trial and error. Semper Fi
The opening of the book “Fields of Fire” by Jim Webb has a Marine Corps tank stranded in a rice paddy and a Marine Rifle Platoon in the defense around and supporting the tank as afternoon is waning into night. The fire fight that ensues is instructive on many levels. But the tank and infantry were for better or worse combined and mutually supporting. This is basic early days TBS stuff. Yet the supporters of FD whatever ignore this fact. That armor in the Ukraine is having impact is clear for both sides. least wise why would NATO be shoving their main battle tanks including the USA Abrams into theater. Anyone who doesn’t think armor is effective in a built up urban environment should find Marines that fought in the Battle of Hue City. In fact beyond the tanks they employed the tracked M-50 Ontos. 6 direct fire 106 recoiless rifles mounted on a lightly armored tracked vehicle. “Fire the 106!” They can play mind games about the supporting cyber world, but as in all Greek tragedies “cyber and drones” are merely the haunting and troubling chorus to the main very tragic protagonists who supported and persist in supporting the 38th and apparently the 39th Commandant in their head long rush to defeat in detail in every aspect of Marine life and it’s very existence. If you can’t keep black mold out of the barracks how can you be trusted with anything greater than a wet mop and bucket of hot water and Mr. Clean, and detailed supervision on its employment in the head? Exactly. You can’t.
Charles you are exactly right. Combined arms instruction is basic TBS stuff. I cannot believe anyone would disagree with this concept or try to alter it.
I do not remember loading any sort of bridging assets or MP's on a MEU . Tanks were always fun to load. Sometimes necessitated the DCA to flood some ballast to keep the ship trimmed!
One of the issues I had as a Combat Cargo Officer was Marine Corps equipment got so large! Trying to maintain the required overhead clearance for firefighting equipment...it was very much like the proverbial 10 lbs of --- in a 5 lbs bag.
I am not an artillery guy. I was a Recon Marine in my early days in the Corps then an Embarkation/Logistics Specialist (and quite frankly I was a bigger asset to the Corps as the former!!).
So I always wondered why the Corps never seriously looked at the Hawkeye M105 system.
https://amgeneral.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Humvee-Hawkeye-2019.pdf
I once did a notional MEU load out using these systems instead of the M777's and 7 ton truck prime mover. 6 tubes and their respective movers, along with the rest of their material was a HUG load on the ship. I figured that they could have 12 of the Hawkeye M105 systems vice 6 M777's in the same space. M105's are so damned versatile. With the number of differing types of rounds available, and the ability of the system to do point blank firing, seems to me to be a very reasonable alternative.
I also have looked at the Hawkeye 105, and see it as very versatile. Another piece to look at is the Brutus 155, which is the 777 mounted on an Army 5ton. In an age of needed mobility, these would be very beneficial.
Like Bud Meador, I was in Mike 3/2 in early spring of 1979, when Colonel Ripley arrived and took command of 1/2. To say that a brand new wind swept across 1/2 would be an understatement. To a young platoon commander in Mike 3/2 a living legend had arrived. There were a few instances when our officers call on a Friday afternoon coincided with 1/2. As it would go after “ just two beers” the intermingling in the big O Club bar would commence. Like Bud, my recall is that Colonel Ripley truly enjoyed being around young officers and saw these off beat moments to lead and instruct rather casually, humorously and with a third beer in his hand. One reason to be pathologically optimistic that Chowder Society II and its supporters will prevail is because as Colonel Ripley opined “one person can make a difference.” Well we are not just one person and without doubt can make a difference. Some in current senior Marine Corps leadership keep trying to make us “old thinkers go away.” Well apparently not so fast because we now in addition to OUR. generals and OUR senior leadership, have gained a weapon in the guise of a mother and wife of Marines who gave the current CMC a rather strongly worded letter that he and others can’t ignore. One person turns into many. Iron will and one direction sharpens other iron will in a principal of war “Mass” and the force shoves off, in search of armor, arty, bridging, snipers and so forth, undaunted.
Amen, Leatherneck! Well said, and spot on!