October 20, 2025:
Over the last twenty years, the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) has been reorganizing itself. The most recent effort has been the adoption of drone warfare, as it continues to evolve in the Ukraine War. The Marines expect thousands of drones to be in the hands of Marines by the end of the year. Marines have already been trained to maintain, operate, and make the best use of their new drone capabilities. Many young Marines have used video games, and that experience prepares them to handle drones, much like Ukrainian soldiers have leveraged similar skills.
Drone adoption runs into some existing problems. Over the last few decades, Marine weapons and equipment have become heavier, which was evident when Marines worked with Army units during combat operations. This made the average Marine combat unit heavier and more difficult to move ashore for amphibious operations. In response, Marine commanders say they would prefer a smaller force, one that concentrates on its core mission: amphibious and commando-type operations.
The reorganization process has been underway for the past few years and has led to the disbandment or transfer to the reserves of many tank, artillery, aviation, engineer, and military police support units. Three of the 24 current Marine infantry battalions and one regimental headquarters are being deactivated as well. The Marine focus is now on the Pacific and potential conflict with China. That means the Marines want to return to World War II-type operations, when they were all about taking fortified islands from Japanese garrisons.
The pre-reorganization Marines, who gained much of their armor, engineer, and artillery units, evolved in 2001, when major operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and a few other places required forces similar to those of the Army, which needed more of them.
The last major reorganization took place in the 1980s. Back then, the Marines turned their divisional and regimental headquarters into administrative operations and created new organizations to do the actual fighting. The new units were Marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs), which were essentially reinforced infantry battalions, while Marine Expeditionary Brigades (MEBs) were brigades reinforced with support units so they could operate independently. Finally, Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEFs) served as headquarters for controlling MEUs and MEBs. During large operations, the old regimental and divisional designations were used, but the units were essentially MEBs controlled by an MEF. This task-oriented organization remains. Even the Army adopted this approach nearly twenty years ago, when reinforced brigades became the primary combat unit rather than the division. Divisional headquarters became tactical headquarters for brigades and other units during operations.
Meanwhile, many Marines were unhappy with how they were used as an Army auxiliary in the decades after 2001. The Marines consider themselves specialists, while the Army consists of generalists who, for example, carried out more amphibious operations than the Marines during World War II. By 2013, Marines comprised a quarter of America’s active-duty ground combat forces. When counting the much larger Army reserve force, the Marines accounted for 18 percent of ground combat forces. The Marines never wanted to be just another part of American ground combat forces. This has caused tension within Marine leadership, as some commanders want to maintain as broad a range of skills as possible. This has led to disputes over the development and procurement of specialist equipment, especially amphibious and armored vehicles. Ultimately, the originalists won the debate, and now the Marines are returning to their modern origins in World War II.
The Marines are also concerned about their relationship with the U.S. Navy, which has now formed another ground combat force. To understand how this came about, you need to understand the relationship between the Navy and the Marines. The Marines are not part of the Navy, as they are often described. Both the Navy and Marines are part of the Department of the Navy. The Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force each have only one component, while the Department of the Navy has two: the fleet and the Marines, which are separate services that are closely intertwined. For example, the Navy provides many support functions for the Marines, which, in the Army and Air Force, are provided by each service. Thus, Navy personnel serve in Marine units, wearing Marine combat uniforms as medics and other support specialists. The Navy’s support functions mean a higher proportion of Marines are combat troops compared to the Navy, Army, or Air Force. This gives the Marines a different attitude and outlook.
Over the years, the Marines have gained more autonomy from the Navy. When the U.S. Marine Corps was created over two centuries ago, Marines were sailors trained and equipped to fight as infantry, very much part of the Navy and ship crews. This changed radically in the late 19th century, when all-metal steamships replaced wooden sailing ships. The new iron ships didn’t need Marines, and there were proposals to eliminate them. In response, the American Marines got organized and made themselves useful in other ways. For example, the Marines performed exceptionally well as State Department troops in Latin America for half a century, from the late 19th century to just before World War II. During that time, American troops were frequently used to address civil disorder abroad and for nation-building. During World War I (1914–1918), they provided a brigade for ground combat in Europe, where the Marines demonstrated exceptional combat skills.
In the 1930s, as World War II approached, the U.S. Marine Corps seized the opportunity when the Navy realized it would need amphibious assaults to capture heavily fortified Japanese islands in any future war. Thus, once the U.S. entered World War II, the Marines formed their first division-sized units and ended the war with six divisions organized into two corps. Only four of those divisions survived the post-World War II demobilization, and one of them is now a reserve division.
After World War II, the Marine Corps was no longer just a minor part of the Navy but was on its way to becoming a fourth service. By the late 20th century, it had largely achieved that goal. However, in doing so, the Navy lost control of its ground troops. Navy amphibious ships still went to sea with battalions of Marines on board. But because the Marines are primarily an infantry force, and the war on terror was largely an infantry-scale battle, the Marines spent much more time on land working alongside the U.S. Army.
In response to this, the U.S. Navy began building a new ground combat force in 2006, staffed by 40,000 sailors. This was the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC), capable of operating along coasts and up rivers, as well as further inland. NECC units served in Iraq and are ready to deploy anywhere else they are needed. The 1,200 sailors in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams are particularly sought after due to the increased use of roadside bombs and booby traps by enemies. NECC organized three Riverine Squadrons that served in Iraq. NECC essentially consists of most of the combat support units the Navy has traditionally put ashore, plus some coastal and river patrol units typically organized only in wartime.
As major U.S. troop commitments to Iraq and Afghanistan declined after 2011, so did the need for NECC. Currently, NECC is a smaller force of 20,000 sailors trained and equipped for coastal and riverine operations. There is still a need for such capabilities, and the Marines are content to let the Navy handle it with sailors trained as infantry who operate from small boats along coasts and waterways.
NECC and the strategy that came with it surprised many people, especially those in Congress who were asked to fund it. It also surprised many NECC sailors. The Navy even called on the Marines to provide infantry instructors for the few thousand sailors assigned to riverine armed patrol boat units. The Navy already had infantry training courses for Seabee naval construction personnel and members of EOD teams. Now, all that was combined in the Expeditionary Combat Skills (ECS) course, conducted at a base in Mississippi.
Initially, the Marine Corps had mixed feelings about NECC, as the Marines have long been the Navy’s ground combat troops. The Navy maintains that the USMC’s mission will remain unchanged. Thus, some Marine leaders want to shrink the Corps to a size sufficient for anticipated Navy amphibious operations, but not so large as to provide troops for large-scale support of Army operations.
In effect, many American Marine commanders want to emulate the British Royal Marines. Interestingly, British Royal Marines are called Royal Marine Commandos and differ significantly from their American counterparts. Britain invented the modern concept of the commando but disbanded its ten Army commando units at the end of World War II. The Royal Marines, however, saw the commando concept as a valuable addition to their amphibious doctrine and retained three of their nine Royal Marine Commandos. Since World War II, the Royal Marines have maintained at least three commando battalions, with artillery and engineer units supplied by the Army.
Like the U.S. Marines, the Royal Marines recognized that assaults from the sea are inherently commando-like operations requiring special training, bold leadership, and an aggressive spirit. The Royal Marines, like their American counterparts, continued to innovate. In 1956, a Royal Marine Commando launched the first helicopter assault from ships against a land target during an invasion of Egypt. Royal Marine Commandos were used extensively to maintain peace in Ireland during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1982, two Royal Marine Commandos and one Army parachute infantry battalion did most of the fighting to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentina. The Royal Marines have also performed peacekeeping duties in the Balkans and Africa and served as an amphibious rapid-reaction force.
While the U.S. Marines made a name for themselves with multi-division amphibious operations in the Pacific during World War II, the Royal Marines focused on commando-type operations, which characterize what Marines typically do between major wars. The last large-scale amphibious operation occurred over seventy years ago at Inchon, Korea, in 1950. Since then, the typical Marine mission has been a rapid assault using a small, usually battalion-sized force.
In anticipation of this, the U.S. Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC) was created in 2006. Since then, it has kept its 2,500 personnel busy with dozens of deployments in South America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. MARSOC is organized into a headquarters, a two-battalion Special Operations Regiment, a Foreign Military Training Unit, and a Marine Special Operations Support Group. Each battalion includes 3–4 Special Operations companies.
The Marines lost two of their four Force Recon companies—one of them a reserve unit—to build MARSOC. Meanwhile, more troops have been added to division-level reconnaissance units to address some of that shortfall. The Special Operations companies, with about 120 personnel each, can provide Force Recon capabilities to Marine units they are attached to. The two Special Operations Battalions offer a combination of services roughly equivalent to what the U.S. Army Special Forces and Rangers do, as well as some functions of the Force Recon units.
With MARSOC, the Marines are playing catch-up. In the late 1980s, all other services except the Marines contributed to the formation of the Special Operations Command (SOCOM). The Marines finally began working with SOCOM in 2005, when it was agreed they would create MARSOC. The Marine Corps had long resisted this step, largely due to its belief that Marines are inherently superior warriors capable of highly specialized missions. This attitude began to change during the fighting in Afghanistan, when Marines assigned to support SOCOM troops were duly impressed.
Most Marine commanders envision their future as a smaller, by at least a third, more elite, and better-equipped force. The Marines want to return to sea, which they have been doing over the last two decades. One major benefit was avoiding the loss of valuable combat experience gained since September 11, 2001. Recruiting was reduced for a few years, and some Marines transferred to the Navy, usually in roles that both sailors and Marines handle, especially within the NECC force. Marines have also long moved to the Army, which would welcome an infusion of combat-experienced Marines, especially NCOs and officers. The Marines also aim to expand their reserve force so that those who leave active duty can transition to the reserves.
The Marines are now experimenting with new concepts, like littoral regiments, to handle tasks too challenging or distant for NECC to address immediately. The Marines have found a home in SOCOM, a multi-service organization where all forces, including Army Special Forces, Navy SEALs, and special operations aviation units from the Army and Air Force, remain with their parent services. SOCOM ensures that these special operations forces are used for their intended purposes and not diverted to more routine tasks.