Top Marine's deployment plans face familiar wrinkle: Inert Navy ships
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The top Marine has a key objective for the Corps: getting Marine Expeditionary Units back on full deployment schedules.
But he's going to need some help.
'My top priority ... is restoring a 3.0 MEU presence worldwide,' Commandant Gen. Eric Smith said April 7 at the Navy League's annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition.
More specifically, that means a three-ship MEU with an Amphibious Ready Group, or ARG-MEU, deployed out of the East Coast, one out of the West Coast and a third on periodic deployments out of Okinawa, Japan.
The primary impediment? Amphibious ships.
The Corps needs 31 amphibious ships under law at a readiness level of 80% or greater to consistently meet that need, Smith said. But the readiness of that fleet is hovering at about 50% at any given time.
Marines hindered by Navy's amphibious ship maintenance delays
An Amphibious Ready Group includes an assault ship, a landing ship with helicopter platform and a dock landing ship. The MEU consists of a battalion landing team, aviation combat element and combat logistics element to form a Marine Air Ground Task Force.
Bringing the amphib fleet back up to speed will cost maintenance and procurement dollars over multiple years, Smith said. It will take the Marine Corps, the Navy, Congress and shipbuilders.
Smith didn't shirk the Corps' role in the state of the fleet. After two decades of land-based wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Corps had largely left its fleet behind. Money for maintenance and building new ships went to those wars instead.
And the way the four-star sees it, a 3.0 presence is the bare minimum. That's because combatant commanders are requesting the combat power of more than five MEUs throughout the years, he said.
Marine Corps Times reported in December that the Government Accountability Office had audited Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, and Naval Base San Diego, California, regarding amphibious ship maintenance status.
From 2011 to 2020 amphibs were only available for operations 46% of the time.
Also, in 2024 the Boxer and America amphibious readiness groups missed exercises and experienced delayed deployments due to the unavailability of vessels.
One ship had not deployed in 12 years due to maintenance issues.
At the time, Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Joshua Benson told Marine Corps Times, 'The current state of readiness impacts the Marine Corps' capacity to support Combatant Commander's needs, to maintain a 3.0 presence with Marine Expeditionary Units performing heel-to-toe deployments, and ultimately limits our ability to respond to crisis around the globe.'
Beyond regular maintenance and catch-up work, the lifespan of much of the fleet is in doubt.
Out of 32 amphibious-warfare ships, 16 are not expected to reach their 40-year service life. But the entire fleet must serve beyond that time limit to maintain at least a 31-amphibious warfare ship requirement, according to the report.
Also at the expo Monday, America's largest naval shipbuilder, HII, reached an agreement to partner with South Korea's HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to boost shipbuilding across numerous vessel classes.
'By working with our shipbuilding allies and sharing best practices, we believe this [agreement] offers real potential to help accelerate delivery of quality ships,' Brian Blanchette, HII executive vice president and president of Ingalls Shipbuilding, said in a release announcing the partnership.
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Associated Press
37 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Veterans are divided over the Army's big parade, being held on Trump's birthday
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — James McDonough served in the U.S. Army for 27 years, fighting in Vietnam and delivering humanitarian aid to Rwanda. For him, Saturday's military parade in Washington for the Army's 250th anniversary — coinciding with President Donald Trump's birthday — is about the resilience of a vital institution and the nation it serves. 'The soldiers marching that day represent all of that history,' said McDonough, 78, of Crofton, Maryland. 'They don't represent a single day. They don't represent a single person. It's the American Army still standing straight, walking tall, ready to defend our country.' Christopher Purdy, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, called the parade a facade that paints over some of the Republican president's policies that have targeted military veterans and current service members, including cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs and a ban on transgender troops. Purdy said the parade, long sought by Trump, will needlessly display U.S. military might on the president's 79th birthday. 'It's embarrassing,' said Purdy, 40, of Atlanta. 'It's expensive. And whatever his reasons are for doing it, I think it's entirely unnecessary.' Until recently, the Army's long-planned birthday celebration did not include a big parade. Added under the Trump administration, the event, featuring hundreds of military vehicles and aircraft and thousands of soldiers, has divided veterans. Some liken it to the military chest-pounding commonly seen in North Korea, a step toward authoritarianism or a perverse birthday party for Trump. Others see it as a once-in-a-lifetime accounting of the Army's achievements and the military service of millions of soldiers over centuries. The parade is not about Trump, they say, but the public seeing the faces of soldiers when so few Americans serve. The Army expects up to 200,000 people could attend and says the parade will cost an estimated $25 million to $45 million. Trump, speaking at Fort Bragg this week, said Saturday would be 'a big day' and noted 'we want to show off a little bit.' 'We're going to celebrate our greatness and our achievements,' he said. 'This week, we honor 250 years of valor and glory and triumph by the greatest fighting force ever to walk the face of the Earth: the United States Army.' 'Divisive politics have ruined it' For Edmundo Eugenio Martinez Jr., an Army veteran who fought in Iraq, the parade is a missed opportunity to honor generations of veterans, many of whom paid a steep price and came home to little fanfare. 'Sadly, the timing and the optics and divisive politics have ruined it,' said Martinez, 48, of Katy, Texas. 'And I'm not picking one side or the other. Both sides are guilty.' 'It's just suspicious' Joe Plenzler, a retired Marine who fought in Iraq, said Trump wants to see troops saluting him on his birthday as tanks roll past. 'It's just suspicious,' the 53-year-old from Middletown, Virginia, said of the timing. 'I absolutely love the Army from the bottom of my cold black Marine heart,' he said. 'But if the Army's birthday was a day later, we probably wouldn't be doing it. I'd rather see that $50 million take care of the men and women who went off to war and came back with missing arms, legs and eyeballs, and with damaged brains.' 'Part of American culture' Joe Kmiech, who served in the Army and Minnesota National Guard from 1989 to 1998, supports the parade because the Army is 'part of American culture and our fabric.' He notes the Army's pioneering contributions to engineering and medicine, from dams to new surgical techniques. Like many veterans, he has a strong familial connection: His father served in the Army, and so did his maternal grandfather, who fought in World War II. 'I didn't vote for President Trump, but the commander in chief is going to be part of that celebration,' said Kmiech, 54, of Roberts, Wisconsin. 'The distinction needs to be made that the parade is a celebration of our Army, not of a person.' 'Stroking Trump's ego' For Gulf War Army veteran Paul Sullivan, Trump and the parade are inextricably linked. 'This Trump tank travesty is all about stroking Trump's ego,' said Sullivan, 62, who lives outside Charlottesville, Virginia. 'If Trump truly cared about our service members, he would sit down with them quietly and say, 'What can we do with $50 million or $100 million to make your lives better?' He's not.' 'We are a great nation' McDonough, the veteran from Crofton, Maryland, disagrees that the parade is about Trump or too costly. He said the U.S. held a grand celebration in New York after World War II when the nation was deeply in debt. 'We certainly need to bring our debt down, and we certainly need to take care of our veterans,' he said. 'But it's a false dichotomy. It's like saying if we bought two less aircraft carriers, we could do so much better to take care of our poor.' And McDonough said soldiers' oath is to the Constitution, not to Trump. The president 'understands the importance of doing this, not only for the Army, but for the nation,' McDonough said. 'A real dark turn'Purdy, the veteran from Atlanta, said the parade's brazen flex of military strength is not an American tradition, particularly absent a recent victory. 'I'm not saying we shouldn't celebrate the country,' he said. 'But for us to be projecting this type of hard power, in such a real in-your-face way, that's just not who we are.' Trump is brushing aside old alliances and foreign aid that have helped maintain peace for decades, Purdy asserted. 'It signals a real dark turn if we're just going to roll out the tanks,' Purdy said. 'People are the Army' Michael Nardotti, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, said military hardware has long been in American parades, which can help recruitment. More important, he said, is the tremendous value in the public seeing soldiers' faces in a parade when active-duty troops make up less than 1% of the population. ''People are the Army,'' said Nardotti, 78, of Aldie, Virginia, quoting a former Army chief of staff. Nardotti said he'll listen carefully to Trump's speech. 'I hope it sends the right message,' he said.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
From Los Angeles to Washington, Trump leans in as commander in chief
President Donald Trump loves displays of military force. He's parading two very different kinds this week. On one coast, military forces are arriving by the thousands to defend federal buildings and agents, facing off with civilians protesting the president's immigration agenda. On the other, they're readying a celebration of American military might in a parade held on the Army's — and Trump's — birthday. The scenes in Los Angeles and Washington underscore how Trump is leveraging his role as commander-in-chief in a much clearer and more urgent way than he did during his first term — embodying the image of a strong military commander that he has long admired in other foreign leaders, allies and adversaries alike. Trump has long seen the military and his command of it as a sign of his own strength and even expressed a sense of ownership over it. During the first term he referred to John Kelly and James Mattis, the retired four-star Marine generals who served in his Cabinet, as 'my generals.' Trump allies say time has reinforced that sense and removed any inhibitions, allowing him to expand his role as commander-in-chief even further, whether that's showing off the military in a parade or using it to quell protests. 'When you have four years out of office, you really have an opportunity to reflect on how you would do the job differently — and I think you see that manifesting itself in countless ways,' said Sean Spicer, who was press secretary during Trump's first term. 'He is much more confident in command.' And, Spicer added: 'He does love being commander in chief.' In recent days, Trump has mobilized thousands of California's National Guardsmen and deployed hundreds of Marines — in defiance of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom — to stamp out protests in Los Angeles over his deportation agenda. It comes as he prepares to preside over a very different show of force on Saturday with the kind of Americana-drenched military parade he has long dreamed of in celebration of the Army's 250th birthday. More than 100 military vehicles and thousands of soldiers are set to participate, with M1A2 Abrams tanks rolling down Constitution Avenue in front of the White House and Black Hawk, Apache and Chinook helicopters and World War II- and Vietnam-era planes circling overhead. The price tag, which could range anywhere from $25 million to $50 million, will dwarf any other military parade in recent memory, according to the Army. As of Tuesday afternoon, at least a dozen military vehicles, including humvees, were staged in a Pentagon parking lot. In addition, several dozen tanks and other military vehicles were sitting in West Potomac Park. Trump has wanted to hold a military parade in Washington since he accompanied French President Emmanuel Macron to a 2017 Bastille Day parade, where troops marched down the Champs-Élysées while fighter jets flew overhead, leaving trails of red, white, and blue smoke behind them. Trump later called it 'one of the greatest parades I've ever seen,' but aides advised him against throwing a similar affair. Trump has also heaped praise on military displays from adversaries. During a 2017 state visit to China, Trump called a military parade 'magnificent,' and after North Korea toned down its military parade in 2018 to reportedly exclude nuclear weapons, he praised the country for making a 'big and very positive statement.' Marc Short, who served as Trump's legislative affairs director and Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff during the president's first term, said the timing of the Washington parade and the Los Angeles protests was coincidental, but acknowledged the two events offer a sharp contrast. 'He always wanted a military parade the first administration,' he said. 'There's no doubt there's some things that the second go-around he feels like he learned from the first administration the way he wants to do a second time.' One former Trump official, who like others in this story was granted anonymity to speak freely, called both the administration's response to the Los Angeles protests and the military parade a 'holistic approach to national security using all elements of state power as needed.' 'This administration understands that civil unrest and social cohesion is integral to our overall security,' the official said. 'You can't be a secure and prosperous country when rioters waving foreign flags are rampaging in a major country.' White House spokesperson Anny Kelly said in a statement that 'America is respected again' with Trump as commander in chief. 'Thanks to this President's leadership, our homeland is secure, military recruitment is up, our warfighters are prioritized, and the U.S. Army is getting the grand celebration it deserves for 250 years of honor, courage, and sacrifice,' Kelly said. Trump's response to the unrest in Los Angeles offered an opportunity to accomplish something he didn't in his first term. His decision to mobilize the first tranche of those troops, just 24 hours after the protests began, without the support of Newsom offered a stark contrast to his response to the protests after the killing of George Floyd in 2020, when he instead waited for governors to deploy their guardsmen. Steve Cortes, a longtime Trump adviser and conservative commentator, said that Trump's response then 'was just not forceful enough, early enough.' 'Trump seems super intent on a very different path now, with a serious show of righteous force to protect American lives and property,' Cortes said. The displays of military force also speak to another theme of his second administration — his desire to bring American institutions to heel, from elite universities and cultural centers to the federal bureaucracy and the military. In a recent address to West Point graduates, the president touted his elimination of the military's diversity, equity and inclusion policies — and that he had 'rebuilt the military.' 'Second term, I think he's really become what I call a unilateralist, which is he wants to do things that he can do on his own — that people can't stop him from doing,' said Tevi Troy, a former White House official under President George W. Bush turned presidential historian. But, Troy noted, that for as much as Trump likes displays of military power and is willing to deploy military resources at home to curb civil unrest, secure the border or assist with deportations, he's been much more reluctant to send soldiers into large-scale combat overseas. Trump has in some ways been more demanding on the military in the first five months of his administration than in his first term, deploying 10,000 active duty and Guard troops to the southern border, using dozens of military transport aircraft to fly migrants around the world, and the deployment of 4,700 troops to Los Angeles. Military parades are a regular occurrence for many branches of the armed forces. The Marines host a small-scale parade at their Washington Barracks near Capitol Hill almost every week of the summer, and the Navy hosts 'Fleet Week' where ships park in city docks. But those do not come at the behest of the president. The scale and optics of Saturday's parade and Trump's expansive deployments of U.S. troops on their own soil have split the Pentagon's traditionally apolitical bureaucracy along party lines, one defense official said. Pro-Trump officials in the Pentagon have defended the event as an Army birthday celebration, while anti-Trump officials have likened it to a North Korean military demonstration. "The U.S. military has always been his flex," one former defense official said of the recent events. "He loves threatening the world with its power. And now he threatens his domestic enemies — which are anyone he casts as liberal or democrat, and anyone who speaks against him."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
UK's Fuller Smith to tread carefully on price hikes despite rising costs, CEO says
By Raechel Thankam Job (Reuters) -British pub chain Fuller, Smith & Turner will take a cautious approach to increasing prices, CEO Simon Emeny said on Wednesday, as the group navigates rising costs from higher taxes and minimum wage hikes. Companies across the country had flagged an increase in labour costs related to a rise in employers' social security contributions and minimum wages following Finance Minister Rachel Reeves' maiden budget last year. Reeves, who had also introduced the biggest tax increases in three decades, is set to present a multi-year spending plan later on Wednesday. Fuller, which operates premium pubs across the UK, expects to incur 8 million pounds ($10.79 million) in additional costs. "Like everybody in the sector, we have had to raise prices during April to help us navigate this extra cost burden placed on us by the chancellor, but we've kept those as low as possible," Emeny said, adding that the group will be cautious about further price hikes into the year. Although Fuller did not provide any indication about its expectations for the current fiscal year, which began on March 30, like-for-like sales in the first 10 weeks rose 4.2%, slightly lower than the 4.4% growth seen last year. For the year ended March 29, the group reported an adjusted pre-tax profit of 27 million pounds, above analysts' estimate of 24.7 million pounds, according to a company poll. Shares of the company rose as much as 2.2% before reversing course to fall 2.2% as of 1003 GMT. Peel Hunt analysts said in a note they expect maintaining managed like-for-like sales growth to offset ongoing cost inflation to be the main catalyst for shares in the ongoing fiscal year.
