COMMANDANT CALLS FOR SMALLER MARINE CORPS OF 174,000

The Commandant of the Marine Corps has called for the service to cut its active-duty force to 174,000 personnel saying in a piece published Monday, “doing so will allow Marines to remain engaged as the U.S.’s premier crisis-response force.” Gen. Jim Amos’ essay, posted on the website “defense one,” called for additional cuts to the Corps, already in the midst of a drawdown from 202,100. Earlier plans called for a force of 182,100 by fall 2016. However, Amos had suggested previously that additional cuts would be necessary. In his essay, Amos said the decision to reduce the Corps to 174,000 assumes federally mandated budget cuts, known as sequestration, will remain in place. The commandant also left open the possibility that the Corps could be slightly larger to account for an increase in embassy security guards, mandated by Congress earlier this year. There’s no guarantee the service will be allowed to keep even 174,000 Marines, however. In similar fashion to when Amos called for a Corps of 186,800 Marines, there is pressure to shrink even more. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in August that the force’s end strength could shrink to “between 105,000 and 175,000 due to sequestration. Amos said the additional cuts would affect virtually all components of the service. The piece published Monday amd referenced in today’s Marine Corps Times, made no mention of how the Corps would make the additional cuts to 174,000, or how quickly it would happen. It has been shedding about 5,000 Marines per year as part of current drawdown plans. The commandant has said previously that while he wants to “keep faith” with Marines and not break service contracts, the option was on the table if the service was forced to shrink below 182,100 Marines.