Listen Up Marines, We Belong at Sea

[davidbfpo]

This thread has moved away from the primary mission of the USMC into questions of around the mobilisation and the competence of reserves. It is of interest to this British "armchair" observer for two reasons.

First, the current UK defence planning to have an army split into a 'Reaction' and an 'Adaptable' structure. See the UK 2020 thread for a diagram and some discussion:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ad.php?t=16516

It is easy to imagine in a crisis that the deployable part will need supplementing from the second echelon. In Gulf War One the UK deployed an armoured division, which required substantial reinforcement from the whole army and the reserves.