I actually support cutting the Corps down to one MEF, Royal Marines style, full on commando operations only. The pig needs to go on a diet, and the support stuff is what the Navy and Army are for.
Beauty of the Marine Corps is it was a self contained combined arms package that can thumb its nose at the idea of “joint” while all the other pussies try to figure out how to look glamorous
While they are still deciding which camouflage to wear you used to be able to have an ass kicking waiting over the horizon that included naval gunfire ships, reconnaissance, fixed wing air craft, rotary, amphibious assault craft, tanks, artillery and most important of all infantry.
No other service had that capability. Matter of fact due their stupidity they are forbidden by law from having it.
It will be a big issue in capability for the USMC to wait for army tanks and artillery to show up to the next United States show of kicking the shit out of non peer enemies.
We will send the Marines into some Houthi strong hold and in a replay of Somalia 1991 realize how cool having an Abrams can be.
The USMC in present form is light enough while still being able to consider having to create a toehold in either the Atlantic or Pacific AO. A Division each to get you the necessary beachhead with 3rd and 4th Marine Division to reinforce and replace.
I’d love to go back to a twenty thousand member Marine Corps with a 100K army and a coastal Navy. That would mean we have drawn in and decided fuck the rest of the world we are taking care of number one.
It’s been my feeling the best training would be to Helo, truck or walk battalions into our remote border regions north and south and give them three weeks to patrol from point A to point B while subsisting off the land and supply call ins.
You could get desert, arctic, temperate and rain forest training without ever leaving conus.
They would be some hard troops having to patrol the North Dakota border landscape tactically in January.
Any stupid shit they come upon in their travels becomes a mock prisoner training issue and you call in law enforcement to handle it.