Marine Corps eliminating its elite scout sniper platoons

[Suck My Glock]

https://nypost.com/2023/03/04/marine-corps-shutting-down-its-elite-scout-sniper-program/amp/

 

[campinginaz]

Not a good decision at all.

 

[tripletap]

yup- the systematic weakening of our once great homeland

 

[Doc]

Hopefully we can buy neat shit through CMP

 

[samnev]

It's hard for me to believe the Marines would do that. I wonder if they were forced to do it by Biden's lackies?

 

[NBC_LT]

I'd hope that they are just shifting their emphasis onto an elite drone unit.

 

[Half Cocked]

I wouldn't be too quick to assume that there is some kind of left-wing conspiracy behind this change by the Marine Corps. Change has always been part of warfare and those who can't change and adapt to the realities of modern warfare will be unprepared for the new threats that emerge.

There is a saying that we are always fighting the last war. Before the start of WWII, both the US Navy and the Japanese Imperial Navy considered the battleship the ultimate fighting vessel. The two largest battleships ever constructed, the Japanese Musashi and Yamato were both sunk by naval aviation. WWII saw the ascendancy of aviation and achieving air superiority was one of the main goals of the war. In the US Navy the aircraft carrier eclipsed the battleship and became the major surface combatant in the Pacific during WWII.

Now with the war in Ukraine we are seeing for the first time large scale drone warfare. Tanks and armored personnel carriers are being obliterated by drones and other precision guided munitions like HIMARS, TOW and Javelin missiles along with artillery both guided and unguided.

I'm sure that military planners are closely watching what works and doesn't work and constantly reevaluating military doctrine. There will undoubtedly be more changes as observers of the war in Ukraine digest what is going on and make plans for the battlefields of the future.

Also, the article never said that Marine Corps snipers are going away. They are just being moved to another unit.

Instead of completely moving away from sniping, a new MOS “Reconnaissance Sniper” will be established “within the Reconnaissance Battalions.”

 

[Suck My Glock]

It's no secret that for the last 2 years at least, the Corps has been seeking to transform and return to being primarily tasked as an island-hopping amphibious assault service, focused on the potential future conflict in the Pacific with China. So this is just the latest adjustment. Apparently it is the view of the Pentagon that snipers are not of great utility on the beach.

 

[hairygreek]

Click bait for what appears a minor doctrinal change...