Something has changed in the Marine Corps over the past generation. “We cost 5% of the DoD budget — a nickel out of the defense dollar,” General Carl Mundy, the Marine commandant, bragged to Congress in 1993. “In return, the nation gets 10% of its active duty personnel, 18% of its active ground divisions and 15% of its active fighter-attack aircraft.” But that was then. The Marines now boast that they consume 7.8% of the Pentagon budget. While that remains a sliver, it’s also represents a 50% hike in its share of the Pentagon’s overall budget in less than 20 years.
T.X. Hammes, a retired Marine colonel, tries to explain what has happened over at Best Defense: “Decades of relentlessly pursuing three most expensive end items in anyone’s inventory – F-35B [short takeoff and vertical landing fighter], MV-22 [tilt-rotor aircraft] and EFV [the recently-killed Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, aka the swimming tank], means our Corps needs to earn back its reputation for being ready with less money.” Not surprising, given the budgetary storm clouds on the horizon, the colonel’s advising the corps to return to its frugal ways.
