Navy/Marine Corps Team Tests Expeditionary Strike Groups
Navy Newsstand
Release Date: 10/22/2002 1:42:00 PM
By Chief Journalist Walter T. Ham IV, Chief of Naval Operations Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy/Marine Corps Team is extending its reach and transforming its capabilities to prepare for the future challenges of the 21st Century, according to Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Vern Clark.
"The Navy that I came into and grew up in was about war at sea. You go back to World War II, and it started with our ability to win the battle on the ocean before we projected power ashore," Clark recently told the Navy Marine Corps Caucus on Capitol Hill.
According to the CNO, the Navy/Marine Corps Team is running pilot-programs for Expeditionary Strike Groups in the Atlantic and Pacific that add submarines, cruisers and destroyers to the traditional Amphibious Ready Group.
"[Marine Corps Commandant, Gen.] Jim Jones and I both believe that the definition of Amphibious Ready Group ties us to a mental construct of yesterday, and that today is more about projecting power," Clark said. "The Expeditionary Strike Force will be the combination of all the sea power that exists out there, and the beauty of our structure is that we decide the size and shape of this. Commanders in the forward areas will size and shape this the way they need it."
Clark added that the forward persistent presence, speed, flexibility, reach and strength of the Navy Marine Corps Team are essential to securing victory in the war on terrorism.
"We've got to be out and about - and we are," said Clark, adding that the Navy/Marine Corps Team's ability to act quickly is crucial to defeating a global terrorist network like Al Qaeda. "You need to show up off their coast, and when these guys go to their camps the next morning, they're going to ask, 'Gosh, I wonder who was here last night?'"
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