{"id":1459927,"date":"2022-05-02T08:14:47","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T12:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1459927"},"modified":"2022-05-02T08:14:51","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T12:14:51","slug":"force-design-2030-is-not-all-about-the-south-china-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/force-design-2030-is-not-all-about-the-south-china-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Force Design 2030 Is Not All About the South China Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fforce-design-2030-is-not-all-about-the-south-china-sea%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1459927&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p><span>Repeat after me: \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.military.com\/daily-news\/opinions\/2022\/04\/28\/marine-corps-intellectual-civil-war.html\"><span>Force Design 2030<\/span><\/a><span>\u201d is not mainly about the South China Sea, no matter what General David Berger\u2019s detractors say. That claim constitutes part of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/04\/stay-the-course-on-reinventing-the-us-marine-corps-to-fight-china\/\"><span>pushback<\/span><\/a><span> from retired marines against the Marine Corps commandant\u2019s effort to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hqmc.marines.mil\/Portals\/142\/Docs\/CMC38%20Force%20Design%202030%20Report%20Phase%20I%20and%20II.pdf?ver=2020-03-26-121328-460\">reinvent<\/a> the corps as an island-warfare force. The latest to advance it was retired colonel Gary Anderson, a former chief of staff of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, over at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.military.com\/daily-news\/opinions\/2022\/04\/28\/marine-corps-intellectual-civil-war.html\"><span>Military.com<\/span><\/a><span> last week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s a strawman argument. And the strawman seems undead. Let\u2019s aim another headshot at it and see if we can\u2019t get a kill this time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Contends Colonel Anderson, \u201cThe concept calls for having Marine Corps units occupy islands in the South China Sea to counter China\u2019s attempt to dominate that body of water using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2020\/11\/chinas-df-21d-and-df-26b-asbms-is-the-u-s-military-ready\/\">long-range anti-ship<\/a> and anti-air missiles. The intent is to assist the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/04\/the-penobscot-expedition-the-u-s-navys-worst-defeat-until-pearl-harbor\/\">Navy<\/a> in disrupting the Chinese reconnaissance strike-complex that is designed to deny U.S. naval and Air Force access to the South China Sea.\u201d<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>Nope.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Check for yourself. The phrase \u201cSouth China Sea\u201d appears in Force Design 2030 precisely<\/span><i><span> [thumbs through document]<\/span><\/i><span> zero times. Nor does \u201cSoutheast Asia\u201d put in an appearance. The concept does reimagine the Marine Corps as an island-hopping expeditionary force that will \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hqmc.marines.mil\/Portals\/142\/Users\/183\/35\/4535\/211201_A%20Concept%20for%20Stand-In%20Forces.pdf?ver=MFOzu2hs_IWHZlsOAkfZsQ%3D%3D\"><span>stand in<\/span><\/a><span>\u201d within an enemy\u2019s\u2014chiefly China\u2019s\u2014\u201cweapons engagement zone,\u201d the geographic space within reach of People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) sea, air, and missile power.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>The point of standing in\u2014as opposed to standing off beyond weapons range\u2014is to deny the PLA Navy access to Pacific islands and adjacent waters and skies from the outset of a conflict. If successful, small missile-toting marine contingents operating with the U.S. Navy fleet and affiliated joint and allied forces will foil any amphibious assault on the islands, or any effort to traverse straits connecting the China seas with the broad Pacific.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>By converting the first island chain into a barrier to maritime movement, they will imprison <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/04\/chinas-new-type-003-aircraft-carrier-has-a-problem\/\">China\u2019s navy<\/a> and air force within the China seas. Sea denial is a prelude to a fight for command of the sea. This is the classic pattern: deny the enemy command, win command for yourself, exploit command. Once they rule the sea, allied commanders will exploit their dominance how they please.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><i><span>Then<\/span><\/i><span>, perhaps, the allies might concern themselves with subsidiary goals such as reducing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2021\/08\/are-china-and-japan-headed-for-trouble-in-the-east-china-sea\/\">China\u2019s island<\/a> fastnesses in the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/02\/boeings-f-15ex-fighter-a-problem-for-china-in-the-south-china-sea\/\"> South China Sea<\/a>, if that\u2019s where the battle happens to be. But that\u2019s not a necessary ingredient of General Berger\u2019s strategic concept\u2014let alone the sole purpose or combat theater impelling the redesign of the Marine Corps. Enough with the strawman.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>Here\u2019s hoping the zombie stays slain this time.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>A 1945 Contributing Editor, <a href=\"https:\/\/usnwc.edu\/Faculty-and-Departments\/Directory\/James-R-Holmes\">Dr. James Holmes<\/a> holds the J. C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the Naval War College and served on the faculty of the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs. A former U.S. Navy surface warfare officer, he was the last gunnery officer in history to fire a battleship\u2019s big guns in anger, during the first Gulf War in 1991. He earned the Naval War College Foundation Award in 1994, signifying the top graduate in his class. His books include Red Star over the Pacific, an Atlantic Monthly Best Book of 2010 and a fixture on the Navy Professional Reading List. General James Mattis deems him \u201ctroublesome.\u201d The views voiced here are his alone.<\/em>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Repeat after me: \u201cForce Design 2030\u201d is not mainly about the South China Sea, no matter what General David Berger\u2019s detractors say. That claim constitutes part of the pushback from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":489,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1459927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1459927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1459927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1459927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1459927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1459927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1459927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}