Marine Corps, meet the Navy. Navy, meet the Marine Corps.
That was the message out of an April 8 Pentagon round table discussion with top brass from both services. at the Pentagon on April 8. It's no secret, but for more than a decade, the Corps largely has served as a land-based fighting force, waging war in the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Of course, the service boasts of its legacy as of an oceangoing raiding force, behind landings at Fort Nassau in the Bahamas, combat in Tripoli and — more recently — island hopping in the Pacific. In recent years, leaders have called for a return to the Corps' traditions.
There's just one overarching problem: After years apart, the Marine Corps and Navy must relearn how to work together, officials said, and that requires . That involves heavy lifting on both sides., officials said.
"We do not do enough cross training of how Marines fight on a beach as well as well as how the Navy fights at sea," said Rear Adm. Pete Fanta. "We need to teach the Marines how the Navy fights at sea and where they can help and we need to help the Navy understand how Marines fight ashore at shore ((at shore??? ashore???)) and how we can help."
Those needs reflect the impact of Odd words, if not for 13 years of hard fighting across Iraq and Afghanistanthe Middle East, mostly from forts, garrisons and air stations well inland. Still, top officials have emphasized the need to pivot toward the Pacific and Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford has explicitly highlighted the Corps' goal of returning the service to its roots. That means the Marines will be heading back to sea.
The good news is that Pentagon brass has begun the process of bridging the divide, said Rear Adm. Cynthia Thebaud, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group Two. ((who is she???)) During exercise Bold Alligator last year, officers in the two branches worked much more closely together, she said.
"Historically, there has been — particularly, over the past 10-15 years — been sort of a ... more division between the Marine Corps and Navy," she told reporters.
But that's changing and for the better.
Highlighting Bold Alligator, she said, "We are joined at the hip, constantly dialoguing … and our operations are increasingly and continually integrating."
"It's not an us-them, blue-green [divisive relationship]," Thebaud added.
While the Corps operates two land-based special purpose Marine air-ground combat task forces — essentially fixed crisis response units — in Africa and the Middle East, they often interact with the floating Marine expeditionary units operating in the area. And more Marines likely are headed to Australia, Guam and other Pacific locations where they could quickly respond via vessels afloat.
And not just the traditional amphibious assault ships. Though it's been discussed for months, it's likely the Navy and Marine Corps will continue experimenting with putting Marines aboard ships that historically have not carried don't carry them, such as destroyers; and aboard non-traditional vessels, including the new and nontradtional vessels such a mobile landing platform s like the newlybuild Lewis B. Puller.
Though increased integration will mean Marines must developer tighter bonds with their Navy comrades, brethren, it's the officers – and not grunts – who that will need to learn to come together, Fanta said. Noncommissioned officers and staff enior NCOs SNCOs will continue to have one priority: their troops, ((men only???)) he said.
More senior Marines, though, must be more open with their blue counterparts.
"We need to break down the barriers between the Navy and Marine Corps," Fanta said . "As an expeditionary commander multiple times over, I used to have to knock on a door to the Marine plot to get in the door because they wouldn't give me the combination to get in the door."
