Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller cheered President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to massively increase the number of Marine infantry battalions in comments today, but made it clear he wants a lot more than just more troops.
In talking up the “next war,” Neller insisted the Marines need more cyber, intelligence, and avionics specialists, more jets, amphibious ships, and weaponry, saying he thinks the “next war” is going to be much more complicated, and face a much more sophisticated enemy than ISIS.
In suggesting who that “next war” might be, Gen. Neller insisted that ISIS forces aren’t nearly as capable as “Russia-backed separatists that Ukraine is fighting,” underscoring that even if Trump isn’t keen on starting a war with Russia, that doesn’t mean Pentagon officials intend to keep using Russia as the excuse for more spending.
Admiral John Richardson also expressed confidence that the massive US arms makers were fully capable of “boosting production” to meet all the new orders expected as part of Trump’s pledge to massively increase the number of troops, boats, and planes in the military, though he didn’t single out Russia or make any mentions of a next war.
The job of the Commandant of the Marine Corps is to prepare the Marines. “Oh, things are fine,” is not his job.
The Marines have been pretty chewed up in the Bush Wars, which only spread under Obama. Bush kicked a couple of hornets’ nests, and they did not just all go away when Bush left.
The focus of activism ought to be on preventing that next war. Who we fight, and when, is the real issue. It has always been somebody, and for decades it has been far too many. Enough.
We do not yet see prospect of a world without wars. We can see a world with a lot fewer wars that have us in them. That is the big thing right now.
The Marines talk about the next war? There has always been a next war.
That is what we need to do something about, not so much in expectation of permanent prevention, but of stopping the really stupid stuff that we have been doing.
In the meantime, the Marines must avoid being set up for disaster. That too has happened often enough. They pay the price for politicians’ rhetoric.