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| Science & Technology |
| U.S. rethinks a Marine Corps specialty: storming beaches |
| 2010-06-22 |
| During an amphibious assault exercise at Camp Pendleton, Marines appear rusty. They haven't made such a landing since the Korean War — and some leaders wonder whether they will ever do it again. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #10 1st Battalion, 7th Regiment has been HQ'd at Twentynine Palms for a bit and that area doesn't really have a nautical component or an 'ocean view'. Camp Pendleton's usefulness has been become restricted over the years. Twentynine Palms is an excellent place for armor, combined-arms and live-fire exercises. Pity it doesn't have oceanfront, but California for some reason won't let us flood the dry lake beds. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-06-22 22:18 |
| #9 The price for indolence will have to be paid by blood - fortunately for Mr. Gates it will not be his blood... Gates and the rest of his ilk will be most fortunate if they escape having their blood shed. I would imagine that some of these people are going to be hunted like rabid dogs if things go really bad. Maybe even by their own people. I do not see how we're going to get through 2.5 more years of this A-hole in the White House. |
| Posted by: Secret Asian Man 2010-06-22 20:29 |
| #8 Too bad the Marines didn't take over Fort Ord. It had some nice stormin' beaches. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-06-22 15:26 |
| #7 Everyone is 'rusty' doing things they haven't done for a while (or ever). A couple seconds of 'action' tends to 'free up the parts', however. 1st Battalion, 7th Regiment has been HQ'd at Twentynine Palms for a bit and that area doesn't really have a nautical component or an 'ocean view'. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2010-06-22 15:06 |
| #6 very few nations don't have a neighbor or two that could provide a land route. I suspect in the future the fleet will serve as a possible invasion route to keep the beaches fortified while assets move in from other directions. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2010-06-22 10:24 |
| #5 " . . . do any task assigned to them." That pretty sums up the distinction between the armed forces and our political leadership. While particularly true of the USMC, it goes for all the services. |
| Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division 2010-06-22 09:22 |
| #4 "forcing them to stay well away from shore and making any sort of beach landing by Marines extremely dangerous." Right. Like Tarawa wasn't. |
| Posted by: Matt 2010-06-22 08:37 |
| #3 Thought the Marines were into assaults whether on the beaches or not? So the article says the Marines will not be used for assaults? I don't think so. Fallujah has been forgotten by the msm? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-06-22 07:50 |
| #2 "In a speech last month, Gates said rogue nations and nonstate movements such as Hezbollah now possessed sophisticated guided missiles that could destroy naval ships, forcing them to stay well away from shore and making any sort of beach landing by Marines extremely dangerous. Countries including China and Iran have guided missiles and other defenses to deter a beach landing, said Andrew Krepinevich, president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, who has written skeptically of traditional amphibious landings. Minor powers, meanwhile, could hardly resist the kind of landing the Marines practiced in Dawn Blitz, he said." Very interesting analysis - with Iranian backing Hizballa (a declared shiite terror organization) now has enough anti-naval missile power to defeat American naval marine assults. And what has Mr. Gates done up to now to deal with this threat ??? - declare the marins obsolete ? Interesting response. This problem should have been solved long ago by US/IL cooperation ( by dismantling Hizballah). In the coming war, the US army is going to have some nasty problems because of being allowed to sit quietly without any military or political maneuvers to decrease the power of Iran's proxies. The price for indolence will have to be paid by blood - fortunately for Mr. Gates it will not be his blood but some poor Marine's blood or some Israeli soldier not realizing they have been sold out by their "peace loving" leadership. |
| Posted by: Elder of Zion 2010-06-22 05:26 |
| #1 Considering that littoral warfare may be what's ahead... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-06-22 01:07 |