Even though the Marines focus on building better personnel and giving them superb personal combat skills, the Corps still lugs around a fair amount of stuff. Perhaps not as much per capita as an armored unit or an Air Force wing, but even a small Marine Expeditionary Unit — Special Operations Capable — MEU (SOC) — must operate in many environments and roles. On one day, you might see an MEU (SOC) staging an embassy evacuation or rescue. On another day, the mission might be disaster relief or peacekeeping. Meanwhile, a MAGTF still has to be able to perform traditional combat missions, such as amphibious and helicopter assaults. A battalion landing team (BLT) like that in an MEU (SOC) might operate about two dozen armored vehicles, while an equivalent Army unit like a cavalry squadron would own three times that many. The difference is like the one between a draft horse and a thoroughbred. You can ride both, but the draft horse can also pull a cart or plow. The MAGTF is a shock unit (a thoroughbred), which requires reinforcement to conduct really long-term operations.
The money that buys Marine weapons and equipment comes from three sources. First is "Blue" (Navy) money, which buys landing craft and amphibious ships, operated and maintained by sailors. Second comes "Blue" Navy dollars which buy "Green" equipment for Marines, like aircraft, helicopters, and communications and electronic equipment. Finally, there are "Green" Marine Corps funds, to purchase tanks, uniforms, missiles, etc. Marines only control the last category; they have to request the other two from the Navy. The Marines are technically part of the Department of the Navy, after all.
In Fiscal Year 1995 (FY-1995), the Marines only received about $554 million in "Green" dollars. Even with the other "Blue" dollars from the Navy, the total Marine Corps procurement budget is under a billion dollars a year. This level of funding will have to increase if procurement of new systems like the tilt-rotor MV- 22B Osprey transport helicopter and Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAAV) is to begin in the next few years. The Corps still enjoys a strong base of public and legislative support, and it is lobbying hard for what it needs.
Most Marine equipment is not designed specifically for the Marines. The Corps must depend on technologies and systems developed by other services, such as the Army and Air Force. The Air Force might define its key technologies as stealth, airframe structures, jet power plants, avionics, and precision guided weapons. The Army knows all about armor systems, ordnance, vehicle power trains, and command and control networks. By comparison, the Marines have only a few limited areas of technical specialization. These include tilt-rotor aircraft propulsion technology, high-speed water-planing hull designs, and lightweight man-portable anti-armor systems. By taking advantage of other services' technology investments, plus a few key investments of their own, the Marines have become the world's most capable sea soldiers. Remember, though, that the Marines have been on the cutting edge of technology since before World War II. Precision weapons delivery (dive bombing) and vertical envelopment (helicopter warfare) are Marine Corps inventions. Systems like AAAV, the MV-22B Osprey, and the Predator anti-tank rocket may represent the shape of the future for the other services as well.
In reviewing the heavy equipment of the Corps, we'll look closely at only those that are Marine specific. For others, like the M 1A1 Abrams tank and the TOW antitank missile, you can refer to Armored Cav and Fighter Wing. Unlike the other services, the Marines are not defined by the equipment they use. They are defined by how they use the tools that they have, and the missions they perform.
Personal Equipment and Sustenance
The best personal weapons are of little value to the soldier without food, clothing, navigation equipment, and the like. Many such items used by the Marines are developed in Army laboratories and centers. For this reason, many Marines sometimes feel their requirements are held captive by their "big brother" the Army. Let's take a look.
Clothing and Sleeping Gear
The dress uniforms of the Marine Corps may be the smartest and best-looking of all the services, but the basic Battle Dress Uniform (BDU), or "Utilities" as they are known, is nearly identical to what the Army wears. BDUs come in a variety of camouflage patterns, including Woodlands (greens and browns), Desert (beige, brown, and gray), and Urban/Arctic (white, black, and gray), which doubles as a good winter/mountain uniform. BDUs come in various weights, from light knit (a fifty-fifty cotton/nylon rip-stop mix) to quilted high-technology fabrics (Gore-Tex, Supplex, Thermex, and FiberFill) for cold weather. They can be also treated with a waxy substance so that they do not absorb or pass chemical agents onto the skin of the wearer.
Boots are a big problem. Though this situation is changing, the Corps has traditionally had inferior boots for the all-important feet of its Marines. New boots are finally being evaluated and fielded for the Marines. These include the Dannon desert boot, popular in the Persian Gulf in 1990 and 1991, as well as a new winter /wet boot system designed to keep feet dry in the worst conditions. The helmet is still the Kevlar "Fritz" design used by the Army, though the first new lightweight Kevlar-29 units are beginning to arrive.
The biggest current challenge for outfitting Marines is clothing for cold- and wet-weather conditions. Historically we associate Marine operations with tropical weather, or more recently, with Middle Eastern deserts, but the Corps has faced arctic missions for over half a century. Since the U.S. occupation of Iceland in 1941, Marines have operated in high latitudes and altitudes. Even today, a Marine brigade's set of equipment is prepositioned in caves around Oslo, Norway, for operations on NATO's northern flank. The Corps is upgrading its mountain and cold-weather equipment, with new pants, parkas, mittens, socks, underwear, and balaclavas (hoods). There is a new four-part sleeping bag system, with inner and outer bags, liner and bivy sack (outer cover), certified for temperatures as low as -40deg F. Along with special cold-weather rations, these make combat operations in alpine regions and cold weather both possible and livable for Marines.
Navigation
In the last few years, navigation has been revolutionized by the NAVISTAR Global Positioning System (GPS). A constellation of twenty-four satellites in medium Earth orbit (about 11,000 mi/17,700 km in altitude) transmits calibrated signals that generate accurate three-dimensional positions. GPS receivers are increasingly portable, rugged, and cheap. Those receivers saw their first military use in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, where more than five thousand such systems in aircraft, ships, vehicles, and even handheld units contributed to victory over Iraq. Marines used GPS receivers in aircraft like the F/A-18 Hornet fighter bomber and landing craft like the LCAC, and handheld units in the air-ground liaison control (ANGLICO) teams that controlled artillery fire and airstrikes. GPS gave U.S. forces a major advantage on the battlefield, where knowing the exact time (from the satellite's onboard atomic clocks) and your own position is critical. GPS has emerged as a new kind of public utility, with ever-increasing military and civil applications. While the baseline civilian version is limited to 3-D accuracy of about 100 ft/30.5 m, military GPS signals are accurate to about 9.8 to 16.4 ft/3 to 5 m. Utilizing a code which must be punched into the receiver each day (called P(Y)-code), the military signals have proven so accurate and reliable that guided missiles and bombs can use them for guidance.