Thanks for the tip, Dave. Will's commentary is pregnant with all sorts of ideas, some deadly accurate, with at least one idea being a red herring. I might weigh in at my blog in a longer article responding to Will, but just to mention a single issue, the objection that Marines might be losing their edge in expeditionary warfare in the future if they continue to engage in COIN is just plain silly (and I suspect that this isn't Will's idea - he heard it from someone in the establishment as a 'talking point'). It just doesn't take that long to requalify already experienced and well-trained Marines to do squad rushes, or to swim with gear. There is a much bigger issue at stake, and that is what do the Marines want to do, what does the country want them to do, and what does military establishment want them to do?

Setting Marines apart from everyone else is not just the training; it is the ethos.