Face it, US Marine Corps is superfluous, not needed, maritime functions covered by Navy- Obama Defense Sec. Gates

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• 8/12, "US Marine Corps must redefine mission: Gates," AFP

"The US Marine Corps has become too accustomed to fighting land battles and must redefine its mission in the context of

• traditional maritime role, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

The roughly 202,000 members of the Marine Corps have been called upon in recent years to fight predominantly in ground wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan,

• prompting "anxiety in some circles," Gates said at a speech in San Francisco....

Gates acknowledged

• fears
  

that deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan have forced the Marines to

• function "as a so-called second land army."

"The perception being that they have become too heavy, too removed from their expeditionary,

• amphibious roots
  

and the unique skill sets those missions require," he said.

• "Yet fundamentally, the Marines do not want to be, nor does America need, another land army. Nor do they want to be,
  
• nor does America need, a 'US Navy police force,'" he added.

Gates said America would continue to need a force with the ability "to project combat forces from the sea under uncertain conditions," and that

• he had ordered Navy and Marine Corps reviews to better determine
  
• the future of
  
• maritime military forces."...

via Michael Savage show