Two-Fisted Fighter
By AMY L. WITTMAN, Editor in Chief
SEAPOWER
THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE
NAVY LEAGUE OF THE UNITED STATES
Volume 52, Number 9, September 2009
As this nation’s expeditionary,
multi-capable force,
the Marine Corps
must be adaptable,
flexible, lean and
agile. Yet after several
years of fighting in
protracted land wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan, the service has
gotten away from its
naval expeditionary roots and, in
effect, become a second land force.
Gen. James T. Conway, Marine
Corps commandant, has acknowledged this shift and made returning to those roots among his top
priorities. In his “Marine Corps
Vision & Strategy 2025,” Conway
noted that while the service has
“proven itself in ‘sustained operations ashore,’ future operational
environments will place a premium
on agile expeditionary forces. …
We must be a two-fisted fighter —
able to destroy enemy formations
with our scalable air-ground-logis-tics teams in major contingencies,
but equally able to employ our
hard-earned irregular warfare skills
honed over decades of conflict.”
Special Correspondent Otto Kreisher, in
his report “Frugal
Fighters” (page 22),
explains how the
Marine Corps plans
to protect against the
escalating threat of
improvised explosive
devices in Afghanistan and still get more
bang for the taxpayers’ buck. The Corps has opted to
modify some of its Mine Resistant
Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles
to make them usable in Afghanistan
at an average cost of $161,000 each,
rather than buy the new MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle, which carries a base
price tag of about $500,000.
In “The Mobile Marine” (page
26), Kreisher notes that Conway
has given battalion commanders
the authority to adjust the level of
personal armor protection to match
the tactical situation.
This two-fisted fighter must train
to not only fight in the difficult, austere environment in Afghanistan, but
also prepare for an ever broadening
set of missions.
The Marine Corps’ demand for
gunship support exceeds what the
Air Force can provide. Under the
project name Harvest Hawk, the
Marine Corps is augmenting its
combat capabilities by arming KC-
130J Hercules aerial refueler/transport aircraft. Read more about it in
Managing Editor Richard R. Burgess’
report, “Gunship Lite” (page 30).
Despite the fiscal constraints
imposed by Washington and the toll
that sustained ground operations
have taken on the budget, equipment and personnel, the Corps continues to rise to myriad challenges
in innovative ways, exhibiting the
adaptability and flexibility that has
become its hallmark.
Assistant Editor John C. Marcario, in “Virtual Convoy” (page
34), looks at how the Virtual Combat Convoy Trainer prepares Marines for deployment and hones
their leadership skills.
PUBLISHER
J. Michael McGrath
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Stephen R. Pietropaoli
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Amy L. Wittman
awittman@navyleague.org
DEPUTY EDITOR
Peter E. Atkinson
patkinson@navyleague.org
MANAGING EDITOR
Richard R. Burgess
rburgess@navyleague.org
ASSISTANT EDITOR
John C. Marcario
jmarcario@navyleague.org
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kcarpenter@navyleague.org
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