Stranded: U.S. Marine Corps To Need Foreign Vessels For Future Deployments

by JASmius



But what if that U.S. Marine and his buddies need a ride themselves?  Because now they do:

Faced with a shortage of U.S. Navy ships, the Marine Corps is exploring a plan to deploy its forces aboard foreign vessels to ensure they can respond quickly to global crises around Europe and western Africa.

The initiative is a stopgap way to deploy Marines aboard ships overseas until more American vessels are available, said Brigadier-General Norman Cooling, deputy commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa.

The Marines will be able to respond quickly to evacuate embassies or protect U.S. property and citizens, a need highlighted by the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.

“There’s no substitute for U.S. amphibious” vessels, Cooling said. “We’re looking at other options” in the meantime, he added. [emphasis added]

And you thought my consistent references to the U.S. no longer being a superpower, no longer having the best or strongest military in the world anymore, were just hyperbole.  Now you know what I know: We no longer have even the logistical capability to project power anywhere in the world.  The U.S. Marines, for the first time in their history, are stranded on the proverbial shore, unable to even reach combat zones to do their badass kick-assery.

Just as Barack Obama wanted.  Remember, he has always believed and still does that America is the focus of evil in the modern world, that American power and influence have been a detriment to human civilization, and that what the world needs more than anything else is to remove the United States from the "great power" stage altogether so that "other countries" will have the chance to shine and lead "the peoples of Earth" into a bold, shining new America-less future.  You know, nations like...Russia....Red China....North Korea....Cuba....Iran....the Islamic State.

It is the Obama Doctrine, after all.

And here's another interesting question: On whose ships will we be "hitchin' a ride"?  The reason why we got dragged into the Balkans conflicts in the '90s was that the Euros didn't have the naval wherewithall to move "peacekeeping" troops to the southeast corner of their own territory, and had to beg us for that logistical help.  I think it's safe to say that their naval resources haven't increased in the interim.  So who's going to bail us out?



Yeah, that's what I thought.

I never did understand why one-time Reagan Naval Secretary James Webb became a Democrat, but on this issue of deliberately-self-inflicted U.S. naval impotence, he's spot-on:

HH: You are very on top of the Navy, the naval issues, and not surprising[ly], having been secretary of the Navy. You see what China is doing. Are we funding adequately a ship count? Do you think we’re even close to what we need? And I always ask people about not having a replacement for the Ohio-Class nuclear submarine, but in every category of ship? Are we even close, Senator Webb?

JW: We’re not close, and the other issue with respect to China and its expansionism is that we are not properly addressing in diplomatic and economic terms what China has been doing, because for fifteen years, they have been marking sovereignty issues on territories that are legitimately contested by other countries. And just over the past three years, I wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal three years ago talking about how they had created a new political prefecture in that region, two million square kilometers of territory out there in the South China Sea that reports directly to Beijing. China is building a deep water navy, blue water navy. In fact, the Chinese and the Russians are going to hold joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean this summer. And our navy has gone from 568 ships when I was secretary of the Navy, and much more than that, actually, when I was commissioned, down to about, in the 280s now. And in the future, I think that the size of our Navy should be up well above 300. [emphases added]

Multiple enemies have recognized that wiping out the West and conquering the entire planet are now realistic possibilities, and therefore opportunities, and we can't even get a single jarhead anyplace unless he's a really good swimmer.  And what does President Precious have our meager "armed forces" doing?  Juggling icicles.

I hope you're all getting your affairs in order for the arrival of our invaders, because this country is not going to be around much longer - and not just in a "as we've known it" sense, either.