Does FD 2030’s EABO Leave Marines Without Maneuver?
Say goodbye to maneuver? One of the missions of a Marine rifle squad is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver.
The December edition of the Maine Corps Gazette is dedicated to FD 2030. The Gazette includes several articles written in support of FD 2030, as well as several articles that raise concerns. Compass Post will feature several of the articles that raise significant concerns about FD 2030.
One of the articles that raises concerns about FD 2030 is an in depth review of Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations by Marinus. See link below. The article takes issue with how EABO turns the proposed Marine advanced units in the Pacific into mere sensor nodes in an island chain defense. The ability of Marine units, not just to shift position, but to maneuver is lost. Additionally, capabilities needed globally are reduced or stripped away entirely leaving the Marine Corps without its traditional ability to be most ready when the nation is least ready.
It is extremely doubtful that Congress or the Combatant Commanders are in favor of a weaker, more narrow, less capable Marine Corps.
Marine Corps Gazette (mca-marines.org)
Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations
Is the Marine Corps abandoning maneuver warfare?
by Marinus
. . . Even acknowledging the potential deterrent value of the Island Chain Strategy, this is far from the best employment of Marine Corps forces. The Army is much better prepared and equipped to provide the land based missile forces that are the backbone of the concept. If the Marine Corps were so committed, who then would fulfill the force-in-readiness role? Is it in the Nation’s interest to tie up limited Marine forces—built for rapid deployability to “any clime and place” and warfare across the spectrum of conflict—indefinitely in anticipation of a war that may not occur?
Some may argue that the Marine Corps today is merely doing what the interwar Marine Corps did in developing amphibious capabilities based on War Plan Orange. The critical difference, however, is that those amphibious capabilities found utility in nearly every theater of the Second World War and in numerous instances since, while EABO appears to be applicable to one very specific feature of maritime terrain in the western Pacific . . . .
Marinus is a group of retired or former Marines interested in the past, present, and future of Marine Corps doctrine. The group includes John F. Schmitt, Bruce I. Gudmundsson, LtGen P.K. Van Riper, Col Eric M. Walters, and Col James K. Van Riper.
December Gazette 2022 - EABO by Marinus
https://mca-marines.org/wp-content/uploads/Maneuverist-19.pdf