FORT LEAVENWORTH, KAN. —Defense Secretary Robert Gates is challenging the Marine Corps to define its future role. Wink- Wink - Smile- Move along nothing to see here!
Gates and Obama are dismantling our future Military and America's safety. They are proposing cutting the military budget by 66% over the next 10 years. This is at a time in history where the Chinese are increasing spending by 42% of their GDP on defense and building a blue water Navy. Gates states "we will always have an amphibious capability". What he does not say is that they will be Marine core. Let's face it Obama hates the Marines because they represent the best of the America solider. By dismantling this American Icon he sends a clear message to our Foes! America is yours for the taking.
Last year, Gates terminated the Army’s Future Combat Systems program and directed the service to begin a new modernization effort. The service responded with a new program that’s slated to field the first vehicles in seven years.
That’s just too slow for the defense secretary.
Speaking to an audience here, Gates noted the Pentagon took the mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) program from an idea to full-rate production “in a year.” To Gates, that experience says, “we can shave a little time off” the post-FCS program’s time line.
He said he has been discussing just that with senior Army leaders.
Gates said he has been interviewing candidates to replace retiring Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway. His first question to them: What’s your vision for the future of the Corps? The question provides a window into the secretary’s thinking about amphibious operations. Gates said he is unsure just where American Marines would be asked to storm a beach in the future — especially as potential foes continue fielding more and more advanced weapons, like large stocks of missiles.
But Gates said that America “will always have a Marine Corps,” and “we will need some amount of amphibious capability.”
On shipbuilding, Gates cited his May 3 speech to a Navy League conference, saying, “They didn’t much like what I had to say.” During that talk, the secretary said the Navy must find a way to build ships more cheaply, while also thinking of new ways to use its ships against ever-more sophisticated foes.
Today, Gates said that the Navy will not reach its 313-ship fleet goal unless it cuts shipbuilding costs.
He also said he does not want a situation to occur where Washington “is dependent on a foreign shipyard to build U.S. warships.”
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