In a recent Compass Points post: FD 2030 - Risking War, authors General Sheehan and Brigadier General Holcomb are quoted making the case that the ‘divest to invest’ business model, now in use by all the armed services, has weakened the Marine Corps and the entire U.S. military.
Writing in 19fortyfive.com, (link below) defense expert Dakota Woods, the editor of the annual Index of U.S. Military Strength, explains why the Index this year evaluated the U.S. military as weak. Overall, the services are divesting to invest, in other words, degrading current capabilities in order to grow stronger sometime in the future.
In regards to the Marine Corps, Mr. Woods claims to be “optimistic” about FD 2030, and he does evaluate the Marine Corps as being in better shape than the other armed services. Still, Woods is forced to officially evaluate the Marine Corps as “Weak” in the category of “Capacity.”
The Corps is operating with 73 percent of the number of battalions it should have relative to the revised benchmark set by this Index and has stated its intent to shrink from its current 22 battalions to 21 battalions. Marine Corps capacity is therefore scored as “weak,” a drop in score from the 2022 Index. Reducing operational strength by another battalion would bring it to just 70 percent of the strength it should have.
https://www.heritage.org/military-strength/assessment-us-military-power/us-marine-corps
1945 (19fortyfive.com)
Smart Bombs: Military, Defense, and National Security
Yes, The U.S. Military is Weak
By Dakota Woods
In its current state, how can our military be assessed as anything other than weak? Honestly assessing U.S. military power is not “dangerous.” What is dangerous is to be weak and to not let the American people know it. Even more dangerous: a Pentagon in denial of the threats it faces and its own vulnerabilities.
Dakota Woods is a former active duty Marine, as well as a senior research fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense, and the editor of the annual “Index of U.S. Military Strength.”
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/10/yes-the-u-s-military-is-weak/