TRAINING & EDUCATION
Burden falls on TECOM to support career goals of 22,000 new Marines
By MATT HILBURN, Associate Editor
New recruits and crusty veterans alike still
have to be trained at various points in their
careers, so putting 22,000 new Marines into
an already stressed training pipeline will require the
Marine Corps’ training apparatus to increase its capacity. The burden for this falls on Training and Education
Command (TECOM), not just for the initial five years
of the planned force expansion, but for the entire career
span of all 22,000 Marines, both officer and enlisted.
Furthermore, according to Gen. James T. Conway,
Marine Corps commandant, one of the main reasons
for the service’s growth is to be able to increase and
improve training in the Corps’ core competency as an
amphibious, expeditionary force.
To start preparing the command for more Marines
needing training and education, TECOM officials said
they already have solicited feedback from all the schools
and detachments about what resources will be required.
TECOM then identified the manpower requirements and
training equipment necessary to accomplish the mission.
All of that information, according to the officials, has
been passed to Headquarters Marine Corps.
For starters, TECOM will add roughly 1,250 billets
though 2009 to help process the flow of new Marines.
U.S. MARINE CORPS
Sgt. Michael J. Maze, a trainer with the Jungle Warfare Training Center, explains an obstacle to Marines with Marine Air
Control Group 18, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, during the endurance course portion of their five-day Jungle Skills Course.
