The Pentagon says it opposes a bill to re-designate the Department of the Navy as the Department of the Navy and Marine Corps and deems the name change as “unnecessary,” costly and a move that would do nothing to elevate the standing of the Marine Corps, which was the intention of the bill.
In a letter released today by Senate Armed Services Committee chair Sen. Carl Levin’s office, Pentagon general counsel Jeh Johnson writes the dissenting opinion:
“The Navy and Marine Corps have been one team led by one Secretary since Benjamin Stoddert was named the first Secretary of the Navy by president Adams in 1798. The tremendous sense of unity and jointness that have been the hallmark of the Navy and Marine Corps team for well over 200 years is unique among the services… A re-designation could be viewed as more than symbolic, and could easily be misinterpreted as a step away from the heritage and tradition of a strong Navy and Marine Corps team.”
Of course such a change would also fly in the face of Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ new initiative to reduce redundant and unnecessary management at the Pentagon.
– Greg Grant
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
The USMC only has standing to keep sailors abord ship in line, and act as the Navy's foot soldiers. It has no seperate standing in its own right. The days of naval ship to ship boarding actions and cutting out raids on enemy harbors have passed. The logical solution is to transfer the Marines to the U.S. Army, where they can be the Army's Amphibious Corps. Of course they would have to wear Army Green, instead of their gaudy current uniform, but they could keep the globe and anchor insignia. Obama's mind works on logic and not on tradition. After he gets gays assimulated into the armed forces, he may transfer the USMC over to the Army.
Bob, sorry to say but Obama is an idiot. " his mind works on logic " wrong .
How can Obama sit there and vilify the insurance companies, but then hand them 30 million more customers. Thats not logic. And tradition, ya i can see
what he thinks about our constitution.
First of all, this article has nothing to do with the President so I don't understand why we're even talking about him. Bob, Congress would never allow the Marine Corps to be folded into the Army, and i'm pretty sure the President wouldn't go to any such lengths to destroy the Marine Corps as an institution, an institution that has a proud history and its own way of doing things. As for Praetorian's comment about health reform, you clearly don't know jack if that's your interpretation of what health reform was about. First of all obama pushed for a public option which the right accused of being too socialist. If the public option had passed, those customers would be government clients, not private insurance customers. As for our Constitution, the Constitution is a great document but is hardly flawless. A system that was never able to pass basic civil rights legislation called the "Equal Rights Amendment" obviously has serious problems.
The United States Marine Corps will never become part of the Army. As for Obama and logic those two words should never be used in the same sentence other than this one. Obama does not know how to apply logic to solve a problem or to do anything else. He is an absolute babe in the woods except when it comes to Chicago Politics.
OK then hows this:
Dept of Naval Services or Dept of Naval & Marine Services.
EZ do, right.
What the hell are you talking about? "SERVICES" . These Naval and Marine personnel are warriors. They don't belong to a service industry. No Change is needed except to change the president as soon as legally possible.
Well this Marine is happy to see this thing die. Totally useless gesture – are we going to try of Corps of One now? How 'bout Corps Strong? I have to congratulate Bob on a job well done, when somebody trolls you – and you know it but cant resist… So I can't resist: Bob the United States still has a Marine Corps not because we're swinging from rigging or making beach landings, we're still around because we're wanted. Many attempts have been made to kill the Marine Corps, just like you described – folding into the Army. It hasn't happened because the Corps does a better job, at pretty much any task, than the Army despite smaller forces and a meager budget. This has been demonstrated time after time. In fact if you examine most of the Corp's finest moments you'll see that the Army was there as well, the Marine Corps just stepped up and out performed.
Not to get into a pissing contest, but you should read "house to house" about operation Phantom Fury where the Marines had a really hard time getting off the line. The 2-7 Cav was then left alone breaching the city first.
Agreed, no urine necessary. I haven't read the book, but I was there. I remember having to reclear areas that the Army "cleared".
Yeah that tends to happen when your flanks aren't covered by late arrivals. Pesky insurgents just bypass and reoccupy. Joint ops suck.
there are many better, more important things the government can spend money/time on than this.
Of course, it SHOULD be renamed "The Department of the Marine Corps"…
Don't want the Taxi Drivers getting too high an opinion of themselves! :->
I do not know who suggested this completely idiotic suggestion, but I assume that it came from one of the anti-american communist politicians with a “democrat” label.” The democrats have been trying to destroy our military for decades and the “divide and conquer” ploy is one of the oldest tactics.
By the way. The specific missions of the military were defined by congress in 1947.
Personally, with a strong Navy-Marine team one wonders why we need the Army and the Air Force. : )
dido on that, especially since the Air Force doesn't want to support the Army on the ground, they just want to fly around in their fancy F-22s
First you say the "Democrat Communists" want to "divide and conquer", and then you propose that we should get rid of the Army and the Air Force. Forgive me if I think that your comments result from blind hypocrisy and do not make any sense whatsoever.
"Of course such a change would also fly in the face of Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ new initiative to reduce redundant and unnecessary management at the Pentagon."
Does the bill cover anything else? That is, would a "Department of Navy & Marine Corps" do anything a current "Department of the Navy" does not? If not, then they are right – it is simply a 're-branding' and fundamentally unneccesary.
The marine corps know who they are, and if anyone doesn't, I'm sure they'd be glad to demonstrate…
The US Navy, US Marine Corps, and US Coast Guard are steeped in tradition. The Navy is responsible for projecting power to protect free trade and access on the open seas and foreign shores by air, land, sea, and at times brown water. The Coast Guard protects our National coastal shipping lanes & inlets. The Marine Corps is to provide security aboard our Strategic Naval vessels and is our amphibious military arm to project power from the sea to foreign shores and hold those shores until our Army can be transported for invasions when needed. The US Navy also commands Naval Aviation, the Seabees, and Seals. The Navy should be investing in our Marines, Seabees, and Seals just as it invests in Navy vessels and air power. The US Army and US Air Force have their own branches. Why should the Navy not be treated with the same respect?
The merger of the Marines into the Army wont happen. The Marines as a part of the Department of the Navy and originating from the Naval Service is not fully subject to the Posse Comitatus Act ( the Navy and Marines were added to the Posse Comitatus via DOD Regulation not via Congressional Laws thus are theoretically maybe removed from it's jurisdiction by Presidential Order) . Merging them into the Army would negate their current exemption which could be useful for anti-terrorism, insurrection, or national emergencies when time constrains are short.
what's in a name, anyway? the Navy and Marines will do their jobs no matter what the stupid department is named. The sacrifices of military personnel go unrecognized by the public anyway, it's not like this is gonna make much of a difference. why don't the legislators do something real for once, like, i don't know, help create more jobs and keep Texas from dumbing down their schoolchidren.
The War Department and the Department of the Navy got WWII done. Just sayin…
Why the hell don't they just give the Marines their own department? I've never understood that.
This former Marine (current Soldier) thinks this was a poor idea from the get-go; regardless of the originator. I also can't see the Corps being rolled into the Army: the culture shock would tear the Army apart and lead to even more balkanization within the Army than we have now.
rumour around the Beltway is that Obama has directed SecDef to order the Marine Corps to change the Marines' Hymn from "from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli" because it offends Mexicans and Arabs