How Many Battalions? How Many Marines in Each?
It is commendable that under FD 2030, every infantry Marine arriving at their first infantry battalion should be better trained, and better prepared, for whatever missions they face. The School of Infantry is going from an 8 week course to a 14 week course. That is all good. The question, however, is how many of those battalions will the Marine Corps have, and how many better trained Marines will each battalion hold?
While semiconductor chips often get more powerful as they get smaller, the same can rarely be said about infantry battalions. Size has a strength all its own.
Is Force Design 2030 going to shrink both the number of infantry battalions, and the number of Marines in each battalion? Yes. How much will FD 2030 shrink infantry battalions? It is all in the numbers.
There have been disagreements over the numbers. Some supporters of Force Design 2030 have taken issue with the numbers its critics report the Marines Corps plans to cut from its infantry battalions. The confusion is not surprising. For months, there have been different numbers offered by the Marine Corps. For example, on page A-8 of the Tentative Manual for Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations Figure A-9 shows a cut of 317 Marines from each infantry battalion. Some Marine Corps representatives have reported reductions of either 176 or perhaps 251 Marines.
What has long been clear is the Corps is in the process of cutting from the active force three infantry battalions. But the number of Marines in each remaining infantry battalion has varied depending upon the source of the information. The numbers 896, 965, 968, and 986 have been offered (The last two numbers may have resulted from an inadvertent inversion of their last two digits.)
Fortunately, during a discussion at the Defense News Conference on 6 September 2022, the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps provided a definitive answer. He said the size of infantry battalions will be 810. The original size was 896, thus, the number 810 is a reduction of 86 Marines. (This information begins at the 37 minute mark of the Defense News Conference video.)
In the end, it can be said with certainty, the Marine Corps is in the process of eliminating three infantry battalions with 896 Marines in each. The Marine Corps will also cut 86 Marines from each of the remain 21 infantry battalions. This is a reduction of 4,494 Marines from active-duty infantry battalions, or 20.9%.
Better trained Marines in each infantry battalion? A very good thing. Fewer infantry battalions, and fewer Marines in each? A very doubtful thing.
Is Force Design 2030 going to shrink both the number of infantry battalions, and the number of Marines in each battalion? Yes.
— Compass Points
Compass Points asks any reader to please comment on this post if they know of different numbers from any specific Marine Corps or DOD source.
Cuts inside the infantry bn may not all be infantry Marine cuts. There were 100-200 Marines without an infantry MOS in an infantry bn a few years ago. I would think the 86 Marine cut that you are addressing includes a good deal of non-infantry MOS Marines. Details would be in the CONEMP.
MOOSEMUSS. MASS…..