Military

Chairman Hefley, Congressman Ortiz, distinguished Members of the Committee; it is my privilege to report to you on the state of readiness of your Marine Corps.  Your Marines are firmly committed to warfighting excellence, and the support of the Congress and the American people has been indispensable to our success in the Global War on Terrorism.  Your sustained commitment to improving our Nation's armed forces to meet the challenges of today as well as those of the future is vital to the security of our Nation.  On behalf of all Marines and their families, I thank the Committee for your continued support and commitment to the readiness of your Marine Corps.

Recent Operations & Current Status of Forces

Marine Corps readiness and warfighting capabilities have figured prominently in U.S. military operations since September 2001 and the beginning of the Global War on Terrorism.  In Operation Enduring Freedom, sea-based Marines projected power hundreds of miles inland to establish a stronghold deep in enemy territory.  During Operation Iraqi Freedom, more than 76,000 Marines (including Reservists), their equipment, and supplies deployed to the Iraqi theater, using a combination of amphibious warships, Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF) ships, and airlift. Once combat commenced, a Marine Corps combined-arms team advanced more than 450 miles from the sea, to Baghdad and beyond. In 2004, Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) flexibility and agility continues to be demonstrated as our Marines stabilize and help to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan and maintain our commitments afloat and ashore in other world regions. 

United States Marines are deployed around the world in 2004 - from Iraq and Afghanistan to Northeast Asia, from the Republic of Georgia to the Horn of Africa, and from the Philippines to Romania.  Marines deployed at sea on the warships of Expeditionary Strike Groups are conducting sustained operations ashore in support of U.S. security interests and commitments.  Our top priority continues to be to maintain a high state of readiness and to provide forces capable of meeting the demanding needs of the Unified Combatant Commanders and our Nation in the prosecution of the Global War on Terrorism. 

Since the end of major combat operations in Iraq, the Marine Corps has been setting the force in order to enhance warfighting readiness for future contingencies.  We have reloaded combat equipment and materiel on the ships of the Maritime Prepositioning Force Squadrons while also ensuring that the requirements for Operation Iraqi Freedom II are fulfilled.  With our modernization and transformation goals in mind, we are using the funds provided by Congress to repair, refurbish, and where necessary, replace equipment.

Starting in January, and continuing through today, the Marine Corps is deploying forces to relieve the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 82d Airborne Division in Western Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II.  In preparation for this new mission, we have made a major effort to analyze lessons learned from the Iraqi campaign, and are determining how best to apply them in the current operating environment.  Included in this effort is participation in the Army's Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Task Force, a joint effort to share the technology, as well as the Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP's) of countering the IED threat.

While the entire force is under some stress due to increases in unit Operations Tempo (Optempo), individual Deployment Tempo (Deptempo), and the effort to repair and maintain our equipment, we continue to meet our operational commitments.  During 2004 Marine Expeditionary Units will still deploy as part of Naval Expeditionary Strike Groups in support of Combatant Commander requirements.  Units will continue to deploy to Okinawa and Iwakuni, Japan.  However, some of those forces will subsequently deploy from Okinawa in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II.  Marine Corps units continue to support exercises with our joint and coalition partners that are critical to supporting the Combatant Commanders' Theater Security Cooperation Plans, and counter-drug operations in support of joint and joint-interagency task forces.  While the operational tempo remains high, recruiting and retention continue to meet our manpower goals.  We are continually monitoring the health of our Service, and we are focused on ensuring that the Marine Corps remains ready for all current and future missions. 

People and leadership are the foundations of the Marine Corps' readiness and warfighting capabilities.  Operation Iraqi Freedom demonstrated that the Marine Corps' recruiting, training, and continued emphasis on education of the force are extremely successful in maintaining the high standards of military readiness our Nation requires.  The Marine Corps remains committed to taking care of our Marines, their families, and our civilian Marines.

Marines

This past year demonstrated once again that the most important weapon on any battlefield is the individual Marine. While the employment of precision weapons and advanced technologies provide us unique advantages over our adversaries, our key to battlefield success remains educated, highly skilled, and motivated Marines. During Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, our small-unit leaders' skills, adaptability, and flexibility produced victory on fluid, uncertain and chaotic battlefields.  The Marine Corps will continue to recruit, train, and retain the type of individuals who brought us success in these and many other operations. Consequently, in the coming years some of our most important readiness efforts will revolve around individual Marines and their families. This will be a challenge, especially in times of war, when we call upon our Marines and their families to make significant sacrifices.  We must, therefore, pursue our major Quality of Life priorities - pay and compensation, health care, bachelor and family housing, infrastructure and installation management, and community services - that contribute to maintaining the stability of the force, enhance personal readiness and family cohesion, and promote retention. 

Personnel Tempo (Perstempo).  As of February 27, 2004, the Marine Corps had 1,994 active component and 2,111 reserve component Marines who have exceeded the 400 out of the preceding 730 days Deptempo threshold.  Currently, there are 42,721 active component and 17,099 reserve component Marines who have accrued at least one day of Deptempo.   Prior to September 2001, the Marine Corps maintained a 2.7:1 unit-level rotation ratio.  As a result of the current operational demands associated with the Global War on Terrorism, Marine Corps units are rotating at a higher rate.  The increase in rotation rates will result in an increase in Deptempo.   The degree to which the increase in unit-level rotation will affect retention depends on the duration of the increased level of Deptempo.  To date, we have no evidence that the increase in Deptempo has adversely affected retention. 

Recruiting.  Successful recruiting is essential to replenishing the force and maintaining a high state of readiness. Sustaining our ranks with the highest quality young men and women is the mission of the Marine Corps Recruiting Command.  Recruiting Command has accomplished this mission for more than eight years for enlisted recruiting and 13 years for officer recruiting.  This past year the Marine Corps recruited over 100 percent of its goal with over 97 percent Tier I High School graduates.  The Marine Corps Reserve achieved its Fiscal Year 2003 recruiting goals with the accession of 6,174 Non-Prior Service Marines and 2,663 Prior Service Marines.   This year, as force structures are developed to pursue the Global War on Terrorism, your support is essential in arming our recruiters with the resources they need to ensure the readiness of your Marine Corps.

Retention.  Retaining our best and brightest Marines is key to readiness.  Retention success is partly a consequence of the investment we make in supporting our operational forces - giving our Marines what they need to do their jobs in the field, as well as the funds required to educate and train these phenomenal young men and women.  Our First Term Alignment Plan (first tour) has achieved its reenlistment requirements for the past nine years.  With just over one-third of the current Fiscal Year completed, we have achieved 76 percent of our first-term retention goal for the year.  Furthermore, our Subsequent Term Alignment Plan (second tour and beyond) reveals that we have already retained 47 percent of our goal for this Fiscal Year.  Officer retention is at a 19 year high, continuing a four-year trend of increasing retention.  Despite increased retention overall, certain Military Occupational Specialties continue to suffer perennially high attrition, examples include Aviation Electronics Technicians, Electronic Maintenance Technicians, and Public Affairs.  We are attempting to overcome this challenge by offering continuation pay for those Marines with Military Occupational Specialties that are in short supply.  Military compensation to all Marines that is competitive with the private sector provides the flexibility required to meet the challenge of maintaining stability in manpower.

Marine Corps Reserve.  Our Reserve Marines are a vital and critical element of our Total Force.  The training, leadership, and quality of life of our reserve component remain significant Marine Corps priorities.  In 2003, the Marine Corps Reserve rapidly mobilized combat ready Marines to augment the active component.  Marine Corps Reserve activations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom began in January 2003, and peaked at 21,316 Reserve Marines on active duty in May 2003.  Of the approximately 6,000 Reservists currently on active duty, over 1,300 Individual Mobilization Augmentees, Individual Ready Reserves, and Retirees fill critical joint and internal billets.  As of March 1, 2004, we had 5,398 Marines mobilized; 4,114 in Selected Marine Corps Reserve units and 1,284 Individual Augmentees, and we have an additional 7,500 Marines that will be mobilized for our Operation IRAQI FREEDOM II requirements.  Judicious employment of Reserve Marines remains a top priority of the Marine Corps to ensure the Marine Corps Reserve maintains the capability to augment and reinforce the active component.  Our Reserve units and individuals are combat ready and have rapidly integrated into active forces commands demonstrating the effectiveness of the Marine Corps Total Force.

Marine Corps Reserve units maintain high levels of pre-mobilization readiness.  Reserve Units consistently train to a high readiness standard.  Ninety-eight percent of SMCR Marines called up for duty reported for mobilization and less than one percent requested a deferment, delay, or exemption.  The Marine Corps Reserve executed a rapid and efficient mobilization with units averaging six days from notification to being deployment-ready, and 32 days after receiving a deployment order they arrived in theater. 

Similar to the active component, the challenge for the reserve component is managing the high demand/low density specialties such as Civil Affairs, KC-130, military police, and intelligence.  To date, 96 percent of the Civil Affairs, 989 percent of the KC-130, 72 percent of law enforcement, and 69 percent of the intelligence Marines have been activated as compared to 50 percent of reserve infantry Marines.  Building on the important lessons of the last year, the Marine Corps is pursuing several transformational initiatives to enhance the Reserves' capabilities as an even more ready and able partner with our active component.  These pending initiatives include: increasing the number of Military Police units in the reserve component; establishing a Reserve Intelligence Support Battalion that includes placing Reserve Marine Intelligence Detachments at the Joint Reserve Intelligence Centers; returning some of our Civil Affairs structure to the active component to provide enhanced planning capabilities to the operational and Service Headquarters; and introducing an improved Individual Augmentee Management Program to meet the growing joint and internal requirements. 

End Strength.  The Marine Corps is assimilating last year's congressionally authorized increase in Marine Corps end-strength to 175,000.  The increase of 2,400 Marines authorized by Congress addressed an urgent need to train and maintain enough Marines for the long-term requirements associated with the Global War on Terrorism.  It has been particularly important in enabling us to provide the Nation with the 4^th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (Anti-Terrorism), a robust, scalable force specifically dedicated to anti-terrorism. 

As the Marine Corps is expeditionary by nature, we are accustomed to deploying in support of contingency and forward presence missions.  We are structured in such a way as to satisfy our enduring requirements and meet operational contingencies as long as the contingencies are temporary in nature.  We do not believe, at the present time, that an end strength increase is necessary. 

Quality of Life.  As an expeditionary force, the Marine Corps conducts frequent and sometimes lengthy deployments, and our senior leadership is focused on understanding and mitigating the effects of these deployments on recruitment, readiness, retention, and family life. For example, in recognition of the importance of the transition home for both Marines and their families, the Marine Corps developed a standardized return and reunion program in coordination with Marine Corps Community Services (MCCS) personnel, health professionals, and chaplains. The program was implemented in March 2003, and was specifically designed to ease the assimilation of service members back into family life following long periods of separation, as well as provide information on the additional support programs offered in support of deploying service members and their families. The program consists of a mandatory warrior transition brief for the returning Marine, a return and reunion guidebook for Marines and family members, a caregiver brief, and briefs designed for spouses.

The Marine Corps will continue to look at our unique demographics (e.g., the youth of the force, number of children/ spouses, number of single parents, number of relocations/forward deployed Marines) in a holistic manner and adjust QOL programs to provide the counseling and support needed before, during, and after deployments. The primary focus must be on prevention so that intervention requirements are decreased.  The Marine Corps continues to monitor the attitudes and concerns of Marines and family members relative to their QOL as we provide support during the global war on terrorism. We remain committed to improving the standard of living in the Corps and ensuring that the "QOL benefit" is clearly articulated to our Marines and families.

Training

Superior training has always been a hallmark of your Marine Corps.  Our training with the resources you provide enables us to maintain the high state of readiness demanded of your Nation's expeditionary force in readiness.  In terms of operational deployments, 2003 was the busiest year since 1991.  Consequently, most service exercises were cancelled and participation in exercises throughout the world was reduced, with the exception of the Pacific region. In that area, Marines embarked onboard the USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) participated in the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (LF CARAT) exercise sponsored by the Commander, US Pacific Command, engaging in a series of bilateral training exercises in the Southeast Asian littoral region.  At home, the Marine Corps resumed service exercises as forces began to deploy for training within the continental United States.  Combined Arms Exercises (CAX) at Twenty-nine Palms, California; Mountain Warfare Training Center (MWTC) courses in Bridgeport, California; Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) courses in Yuma, Arizona; and MEU(SOC) work-ups began in earnest to prepare recently redeployed forces for scheduled or emergent deployments.  These exercises also served to evaluate individual and unit proficiency, and ultimately to maintain the readiness and operational primacy of Marine Air-Ground Task Forces across the spectrum of operations. 

Operation Iraqi Freedom II Pre-deployment Training.  While we endeavor to keep a keen edge on our warfighting skills, the mission before us in Iraq requires an emphasis on Security and Stability Operations (SASO).  We have adjusted our training to meet this challenge.  In preparation for Operation Iraqi Freedom II, I Marine Expeditionary Force has analyzed lessons learned from their experiences in conducting security and stability operations from March to September 2003, and from recent Army lessons learned.  As they did last year, I Marine Expeditionary Force is working closely with the Army forces in Iraq.  They have conducted a number of liaison visits with the Army units they will soon relieve.  They have drawn lessons from the tactics of the British in Iraq, which reflects many years of experience in low intensity conflicts and peacekeeping operations; procedures used by the Los Angeles Police Department for neighborhood patrolling in gang dominated areas; as well as study of the Marine Corps' own extensive "Small Wars" experience.  Our deploying units have applied these lessons through a comprehensive training package that includes tactics, techniques, procedures for stability and counter-insurgency operations.  We have conducted rigorous urban operations training and exercises.  Over 400 Marines are receiving Arabic language immersion training, and all deploying Marines and Sailors are receiving extensive cultural education.  Our supporting establishment is focused on the equipment, logistics, and training requirements of this force - paying particular attention to individual protective equipment, enhanced vehicle and aircraft hardening, and aviation survivability equipment and procedures.  Marine aviation elements have worked closely with Army aviation and their recent Iraq experience.  This exchange facilitated an advanced aviation tactics exercise focused on mitigating the threats in the current operating environment to tactical aviation.  This type of training and support is critical as we send Marines back to war in a volatile, dangerous, and changing situation.

Training at Eglin Air Force Base.  Training at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) is envisioned to provide a near term pre-deployment training capability for East Coast Navy Amphibious Ready Groups/Expeditionary Strike Groups and Marine Expeditionary Units (Special Operations Capable), with the potential to be part of the long-term solution.  The training concept was designed for up to two 10-day training periods per year.  The long-term objective is that during each 10-day period, the Expeditionary Strike Groups will be able to conduct training across the full spectrum of operational requirements.  The Marine Corps has invested approximately $4.2 million in environmental assessment/mitigation and infrastructure development required to establish an initial training capability at Eglin AFB.

In December 2003, the Marine Corps completed its first 10-day training period at Eglin AFB.  The Marine Corps is assessing the quality of the training available at Eglin AFB to determine whether training there merits the expenditure of additional effort and resources.  Meanwhile, we continue to explore and develop other options, both within the United States and abroad.  While Eglin AFB has the potential to meet Naval Expeditionary Force training requirements, full development of this capability on a major range and test facility base will require a significant investment by the Department of the Navy and Department of Defense to upgrade existing facilities, as well as changes to existing regulations governing test facilities.

Range Modernization.  Rigorous, realistic training is crucial to combat readiness.  We are building a comprehensive plan to sustain, upgrade, and modernize our ranges and training areas.  Virtual and simulated training scenarios and technology are increasingly important and add great value to the complete training program for Marines.  However, live-fire combined arms training and maneuver forms the core of our combat training programs. The program to modernize our live-training capabilities will provide both operating forces and installations the management tools and resources to better plan and execute training and to honor our commitments as good stewards of our training lands.  The goal of our range modernization program is to preserve and enhance the live-fire combined arms training capabilities of Marine Air-Ground Task Force Training Command, Twenty-nine Palms and Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, and to preserve the unit-training capabilities of the nation's two premier littoral training areas, Camp Lejeune and Camp Pendleton.

Equipment Status

The Marine Corps objective in setting the force for Operation Iraqi Freedom and global commitments is to maintain a high state of preparedness.  This will take time and resources.  Aviation units deploying or deployed in support of the Global War on Terrorism are maintaining mission capability rates above 85 percent.  The remaining units are operating at slightly lower levels due to the aircraft parts priority being established for our forward deployed squadrons.  Our four divisions are currently making steady improvements in equipment readiness because of the remarkable maintenance and repair efforts of our Marines, depot workers, and the support of Congress.  

During Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Marine Corps offloaded two Maritime Prepostitioning Squadrons (11 ships).  Our equipment offloaded from Maritime Prepositioning Ships Squadrons 1 and 2 had equipment readiness ratings of 98 percent and 99 percent respectively.   After combat operations much equipment was worn and broken, and the assessment of that equipment is ongoing.  In 2003, we had approximately 2,000 Marines in Iraq working to inspect, and where feasible, repair equipment in order to bring it back up to an operational capability.  The equipment for back load is operationally capable, i.e., able to shoot, move, and communicate.    The equipment used to support the reconstitution of the Maritime Prepositioning Force losses was pulled from assets left behind in the Continental United States (CONUS) by deploying units, Norway Air-Landed Marine Expeditionary Brigade (NALMEB) assets, and from global war reserve stocks.  It will take time to return the Maritime Prepositioning Force program to pre-Operation Iraqi Freedom employment capability, and the use of Maritime Prepositioning Squadron assets in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II may extend reconstitution.   One squadron is essentially complete and ready to respond to any contingency. Several ships in the other two squadrons had completed reconstitution, but those ships have since been used to support the Marine forces deploying for Operation Iraqi Freedom II.  The current schedule has one Maritime Prepositioning Squadron completing its scheduled maintenance cycle in April 2005, and the second squadron concluding its scheduled maintenance cycle in April 2006.  The time it will take until we have all three squadrons back up will be a function of additional equipment requirements in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II, Corps-wide equipment readiness, and the condition of the equipment that returns from Operation Iraqi Freedom II.  In any case, reconstitution of our forces and Maritime Prepositioning Squadrons will be a challenge for at least a couple more years.

We have used assets from the NALMEB Prepositioning Program in the reconstitution of our Maritime Prepositioning Ships Squadrons, and expect to tap further into the assets stored there as we progress in the overall Maritime Prepositioning Force reconstitution as well as in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM II.   Norway continues to demonstrate its role as a critical and valuable ally to the U.S. through their tremendous support regarding use of our geographically prepositioned assets in their nation.  Specifically, their forces have affected several equipment draws, provided local security and in-country transportation for those assets, and executed the loading of that equipment onto MSC shipping in support of our overall Operation IRAQI Freedom requirements.

Depot Maintenance.  Returning our operating and Maritime Prepositioning Force equipment to full mission capabilities is one of our highest priorities, and that priority is reflected in the Fiscal Year 2004 Supplemental requests for depot maintenance funding.  However, we have constrained our request for equipment throughput at our two Marine Corps depots in order to preclude a significant investment in new facilities or production line tooling. 

The single greatest constraint on the ability of the Marine Corps to execute depot maintenance funds in the near term (1-2 years) is asset availability.  Asset availability describes the ability to initiate the maintenance process by designating a particular asset as available for induction and the transportation of that asset to a depot maintenance activity.

Marine Corps ground equipment assets are found in one of two primary locations' with the operating forces, or in a preposition location (afloat or ashore).  The current operational tempo and our requirement to rapidly reconstitute the Maritime Prepositioning Force make the scheduling of assets for depot maintenance problematic.  The Marine Corps chose to strike a balance between the need to have a Maritime Prepositioning Ship and its associated equipment available to the Combatant Commander and the need to conduct depot level maintenance.  This balance is reflected in the planning of Maritime Prepositioning Ship Maintenance Cycle (MMC) 8.  MMC 8 began in early 2004.  It is a 36-month cycle that will systematically rotate the fleet of Maritime Prepositioning Ships through the Blount Island facility to accomplish the necessary maintenance activities (including depot maintenance), which may have been deferred.

We will continue to evaluate options to accelerate our depot maintenance throughput in order to return mission essential equipment to the operating forces as expeditiously as possible.

Infrastructure

Marine Corps bases, facilities, training areas, ranges, laboratories, buildings, and Navy hospitals provide the essential framework for ensuring our force readiness at home and overseas.  Marine Corps Infrastructure consists of 15 major bases and stations in the United States and Japan.  We continue to implement programs that maintain and improve our infrastructure while using only those resources that are absolutely necessary to accomplishing our goals.  The Marine Corps' Long-range Infrastructure Vision, Installations 2020 (I2020), provides a roadmap for the future of this critical support element of our warfighting capability.  One of the subjects that I2020 deals with is Encroachment Control.
 

Encroachment Control.  The Marine Corps strives to be a good steward of the resources entrusted to it.  We are grateful to the Congress for providing a tool to manage incompatible developments in close proximity of military-use lands.  Monitoring, evaluating, and responding to encroachment is critical to ensuring bases and ranges are available to support mission readiness now and into the future.  Many Marine Corps installations were constructed 60 or more years ago in then-rural areas.  Some of these areas are now urban in nature due to regional development.  The result is encroachment and readiness challenges for the Marine Corps.  We are working with federal, state, and local governments, to provide "win-win" solutions to encroachment pressures to ensure compatible land use which will not degrade mission readiness.  Several potential partnership acquisitions are in the conceptual phase at four installations: Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center Bridgeport, and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.  Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton have established conservation forums as a framework to address military requirements, and to collaborate with federal, state, local, and private entities in the region to achieve mutual goals and objectives in compatible land use plans.  Other installations are also considering the need to establish conservation forums, such as Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Marine Corps Air station Yuma, Marine Corps Air Ground Task Force Training Center Twenty-nine Palms, and Marine Corps Base Quantico. In addition, an encroachment mitigation plan will be developed to monitor and contain internal and external development threats to Blount Island's long-term mission capability.  These initiatives provide the opportunity to develop a long-term vision for our installations for maintaining training readiness.  

Urban encroachment and environmental issues impact our ability to maintain an acceptable level of access to valuable training areas, and test ranges.  Access restrictions have affected testing and the training of our forces, sacrificing rigor and realism.  This trend has stabilized as a result of the previous two years legislative efforts.  The Marine Corps supports the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act provisions that seek to codify prevailing regulatory policies and practices of EPA and the states regarding munitions on operational ranges; and protect us from negative judicial decisions that could drastically undermine readiness.

Blount Island Facility.  The Marine Corps will complete the acquisition of the Blount Island facility in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2004. Upon ownership transfer to the Marine Corps, Blount Island Command becomes responsible for the stewardship of the land, buildings, and environment. To ensure a smooth transition, efforts are in progress to establish facility management processes for base operating support and services, capital improvements, facilities sustainment and restoration, and anti-terrorism force protection.

The acquisition of the Blount Island facility in Jacksonville, Florida, is critical to our Nation and to our Corps' warfighting capabilities.  Blount Island's peacetime mission is to support the Maritime Prepositioning Force.  Its wartime capability to support massive logistics sustainment from the continental United States gives it strategic significance.  The Blount Island facility has a vital role in the National Military Strategy as the site for maintenance operations of the Maritime Prepositioning Force.  The Marine Corps thanks Congress for your role in supporting this acquisition project.

Safety

Safety programs are vital to force protection and operational readiness.  Marine leaders understand the importance of leadership, persistence, and accountability in the effort to reduce mishaps and accidents.  The Fiscal Year 2003 off duty and operational mishap rates were driven upward by the mishaps that occurred during and post Operation Iraqi Freedom, while the aviation mishap rate decreased.  To meet the Secretary of Defense's challenge to all Services to reduce mishaps by 50 percent in two years, the Marine Corps is focusing on initiatives that deal particularly with the development of strategies and specific interventions to preclude mishaps.  The Marine Corps is an active participant of the Defense Safety Oversight Committee.  Our leadership at every level understands the challenge, and we are actively involved in the effort to safeguard our most precious assets - Marines and Sailors.

Operational Readiness Outlook - Near Term

We are preparing our Marines and equipment for continued operations in Iraq. We are hardening about 3,000 vehicles, including both large vehicles and the smaller HMMWV's, against small arms, fragmentation, and Improvised Explosive Devices.  We have enough body armor for every single Marine, not only in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan, to have sufficient protection.  Working with the Army, we are developing technical means to detect and defeat Improvised Explosive Devices.  In our operation Iraqi Freedom II pre-deployment training, we have sent our maneuver battalions through an extensive one-week course in southern California.   All of our aircrew went through a two-week course in Yuma, Arizona, geared toward tactics and survivability in the current operating environment in Iraq, including convoy escort and Man-Portable (MANPAD) surface-to-air missile countermeasures and avoidance training.  Each of our aircraft deploying for Operation Iraqi Freedom are undergoing modification to install the most modern Aircraft Survivability Equipment (ASE) to mitigate their susceptibility to the MANPAD threat.  All deploying combat support and combat service support Marines have completed an extensive combat training course, ensuring that we adhere to our fundamental tenet, "Every Marine a rifleman."  

Your Marines deploying for operation Iraqi Freedom II will deploy in two rotations of seven months each.  This rotation policy will result in the least disruption to the long-term health of the Marine Corps.  We believe that this rotation policy is our best course to minimize stop-loss/stop-move orders, interruptions in recruit training, ensure career progression and development, professional military education, and to allow flexible force applications for other deployment requirements.  The first force rotation, from March until September 2004, will be composed of approximately 25,000 combat-equipped Marines, including almost 3,000-reserve component Marines.  A second force rotation, from September 2004 to March 2005, of like size and composition, will overlap the first and ensure a smooth and stable transition.  

Our single greatest concern as we look beyond Operation Iraqi Freedom II is setting the force for subsequent training and operations.  When we refer to setting the force, we are addressing our ongoing efforts to maintain the combat readiness of your Marine Corps.  In our preparation for current global operations, Optempo, Perstempo and the maintenance, repair, or replacement of equipment are our focus; but as we set the force, we also have modernization and transformation in mind.

Modernization and Transformation

Achieving our vision for the future of the Marine Corps while maintaining near-term readiness will require the upgrade and modernization of current systems until they can be replaced, while we carry out key modernization and transformational programs.  Our top acquisition priorities, such as the MV-22 Osprey, the KC-130J, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, the Short Take Off Vertical Landing Joint Strike Fighter, the Lightweight-155 mm Howitzer, the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, and the CH-53X and UH-1Y/AH-1Z are the cornerstone of the Marine Corps future capabilities.  Initiatives like the family of Navy and Marine Corps Mine Countermeasures systems, concepts such as Tactical Air Integration, Logistics Modernization and Command and Control, and improvements in Intelligence and Information Operations are equally essential to our transformation effort, and we are exploring technology and processes that facilitate our transformation. 

Most important of all to our future readiness are our Sea Power 21 initiatives in partnership with the Navy.  We hold a deep and abiding conviction that Sea Basing initiatives hold the greatest promise for transforming your Marine Corps-Navy team into a more ready, flexible, and responsive force - able to project sustainable power across the full spectrum of operational capabilities anywhere in the world.  More than just an alternative to current capabilities, operations conducted from a sea base may well become the preferred method for national crisis response in the 21^st century.  Naval forces will be strategically and operationally agile, projecting power from a fully networked sea base while operating within the security derived from the Navy's command of the sea.  Sea Basing will provide national decision makers with unprecedented versatility, because naval forces can exploit the freedom of the high seas as maneuver space, relatively unconstrained by political, geographic, or diplomatic restrictions.  Navy and Marine Corps warfighting capabilities, thoroughly integrated across all sea-based systems and assets, will provide our Nation and Regional Combatant Commanders the combat ready forces necessary to fight and win in the conflicts of the 21^st century.

Several new ship classes are coming on line within the next few years that are important to the readiness of The Navy and Marine Corps Team.  The operational capability and flexibility of the naval expeditionary fleet will be significantly enhanced with the Fiscal Year 2005 delivery of USS San Antonio, the first of 12 new landing assault ships with advanced characteristics for amphibious warships.  LHA(R) concept designs are being evaluated within the context of Joint Sea Basing and power projection. This ship will be the centerpiece of the Expeditionary Strike Group, a contributor to the Expeditionary Strike Force, and will carry expeditionary warfare through the middle of this century.   LHA(R) will greatly enhance command and control capabilities and at sea training for embarked forces.  The resulting design is planned to provide a transformational capability that is interoperable with future amphibious and Maritime Preposition Force ships, high-speed vessels, and advanced rotorcraft like the MV-22 and CH-53X, and the Joint Strike Fighter. The Littoral Combat Ship will be a networked, agile, mission focused, stealthy surface combatant with capabilities optimized for responsiveness to threats in the littorals.

This year, the Marine Corps continues to refine plans for the Marine Expeditionary Brigade of 2015, in concert with our concept for sea-based operations.  Similarly, the Analysis of Alternatives for our Maritime Prepositioning Force (Future), a critical component of Sea Basing, will provide valid choices for achieving Sea Basing capabilities.  These initiatives will complement, rather than replace, the amphibious lift and forcible entry capacity of the LHA(R), LPD-17, and LHD, and will provide the Nation a deployment and employment capability unmatched in the modern world.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to again thank the members of the Committee for their continuing support of the Marine Corps, and for the opportunity to discuss our readiness issues.  The young men and women of your Corps are doing an exceptional job in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.  Their accomplishments are a direct reflection of your continued support and commitment to maintaining our Nation's expeditionary warfighting capability.  We go forward with confidence because Marines have the best training and equipment in the world, thanks to the support of this Committee, and the Nation we proudly serve.