Marine Corps to Cut Infantry Assaultman Job to Resource Other Roles

I'm 0351 and am disappointed in the Corps decision to shut us down like that. My grandfather was an assaultman in vietnam.

This has been years in the making. In the early 80's I couldn't even get training simulators for my 0351's to carry in the field. We made our own out of straight sections of tree limbs. The M202 FLASH was more deadly to the operator than the enemy, and removed from service. Even expended LAAW tubes even had to be crushed, accounted for and turned in prior to closing a range. we never saw so much as an empty C-4 pack, let alone trained with real C-4, claymores, and bangalores; shades of pre-WWII infantry carrying brooms in training and shouting "Bang, Bang." Dragons and Tows were for mech vehicles, so a Weapons company 0351 was unlikely to be attached to a reinforced rifle company.

The Company assault section 0351's were expected to "Blind em, burn em, and blast em" with their imagination, and I don't know if that same disgraceful condition exists today, but if you aren't going to train them to do a dangerous job, don't ask them to do a dangerous job. I just hope Rifle companies actually get their engineer reinforcements when they need them. Adapt... Improvise... and Overcome.

Boooo!