East Coast Marines Deploy with JLTVs for the First Time - USNI News

We do not need equipment that does not match the mission! The Marine Corps needs to focus on survivable weapons and equipment that kill efficiently the enemies will and means to fight. I pray US diplomates with their political donors understand the US cannot support an asian ground war on any Asian mainland. The job the US Navy and Marine Corps is to keep the Chinese in China and the commerce sea-lanes open through diplomacy, or force; maybe both. Let us not get bogged down in equipment that equates to a white elephant when deployed.

Definitely a change in direction. Thanks PO1 William "Chip" Nagel

Out of sight, and mind domestic politics, greed run the US government. In essence civilians and corporations run the military. Wall Street (since Vietnam) mesmerizes our higher ranking military minds with vague promises of good well paying jobs. Look how many former high ranking US military sit on Wall Street boards. Not surprisingly we end up with corporate funded think tanks covertly focused on possible lucrative defense contracts. This is about to be challenged. For the last 40 years I have lived abroad. I remember hitch hiking across France in 1973. The road to Germany was two lane. I am not sure if France at this time had any of what Americans would call freeways. So after two days of hitch hiking I arrived in Strasbourg France on the German border. Today most European Union nations, including former communist countries have far more advanced roads than our many pot holed US hi-ways. Driving to Prague shortly after the Berlin Wall fell there was only one place with a hand pump where I could fill up with diesel for my Jetta. This was a primitive station. It was the only place to fill up my VW all the way from the German border into Prague. Today along this same route BP stations with Esso stations line the new smooth roads; I can say 21st century gas stations with their convenience stores. Today our US roads and bridges are in disrepair; some are dangerous to drive on. A friend from Quebec told me once he had to stop deliveries in Pennsylvania because the cost of repairing his semi became too great. It seems to me little has been done to improve any of our US infrastructure. I remember driving with a friend to Latvia from Warsaw in 1999. The road turned into a dirt road with no signs telling us where we were at. We ended up in Belarus after being stopped by their border police. Today the roads are like those in the rest of western Europe not like the United States. Many Texans this winter froze to death because domestic politics with its cobbled up electrical grid made the US look like a 3rd world nation. The greed and trickle down economic’s greed ignored the public welfare. We including me might not like issues being discussed about the huge defense buget, where a reduction could threaten our militaries ability to have spare parts for our high tech weapons. We need to understand greed runs our government. It would not stretch my imagination if Camp Pendleton Marine Base was to be sold to development contractors to become a playground for the rich, and well connected. I believe in history. History shows us the future! The history of “some“weapons purchases by the military have been almost criminal. The M 16 given to the Marines in Vietnam were used as clubs, it seemed to me more than a firearm. Example after a fierce firefight 14 October, 1967 a Marine was missing. We found him sitting on top of dead NVA soldiers holding a 1911 Colt 45. Around him was at least one dead Marine, and a bunch of dead NVA. All the M 16’s malfunctioned. It was the colt 45 model “1911 model” that saved his life.