{"id":43477,"date":"2020-06-01T09:00:10","date_gmt":"2020-06-01T09:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/06\/01\/in-his-fight-to-change-the-corps-americas-top-marine-takes-friendly-fire\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:36:12","slug":"in-his-fight-to-change-the-corps-americas-top-marine-takes-friendly-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/06\/01\/in-his-fight-to-change-the-corps-americas-top-marine-takes-friendly-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"In his fight to change the Corps, America\u2019s top Marine takes friendly fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 As the new<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2020\/03\/05\/to-combat-the-china-threat-us-marine-corps-declares-ship-killing-missile-systems-its-top-priority\/\" target=\"_blank\"> commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps<\/a> seeks to make radical changes to how the service operates, there are signs some of the old-guard Marines are dubious of aligning too closely with the Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalinterest.org\/feature\/future-us-marine-corps-152606\" target=_blank>scathing op-ed in The National Interest<\/a>, former senator and Navy Secretary Jim Webb, who served as a Marine in Vietnam, blasted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2019\/09\/18\/the-commandant-has-a-new-plan-for-the-marine-corps-heres-how-marines-will-get-the-gear-to-make-it-a-reality\/\" target=_blank>Gen. David Berger\u2019s plan<\/a> \u2014 described in his planning guidance issued last summer \u2014 as too narrowly focused on a single mission: raids on islands in the South China and East China seas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But in response to a question on Webb\u2019s op-ed at a small roundtable of reporters, Berger rejected the criticism, saying that while he welcomes \u201cinformed debate,\u201d the Marines must pace the China threat and that any force designed to take on China would be applicable all over the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/02\/12\/heres-the-us-marine-corps-plan-for-sinking-chinese-ships-with-drone-missile-launchers\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/HIMARS-Marines.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Here\u2019s the US Marine Corps\u2019 plan for sinking Chinese ships with drone missile launchers<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Marines are developing a drone vehicle paired with a missile launcher to take out Chinese ships, according to funding requested in the Navy&#039;s 2021 budget documents.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAny informed debate is always helpful when you are going through a refocusing of your force,\u201d Berger said. \u201cI welcome the criticism, as long as it is informed. The central role of the Marine Corps is to be a [ready force]; the 9-1-1 force; the force that has to be the most ready when the Nation is least ready. That has not, and will not, change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat said, we have threats now on the horizon that we need to prepare for, or we will be overmatched and we won\u2019t allow that to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Berger defended his plan, the editorial from such a respected Marine alumnus raises the possibility of deeper cultural resistance to some of the sweeping changes the commandant is proposing. But several experts who spoke with Defense News said that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/smr\/reagan-defense-forum\/2019\/12\/09\/heavy-equipment-out-unmanned-logistics-in-for-the-marine-commandants-wishlist\/\" target=_blank>Berger\u2019s reorientation of the force <\/a>was overdue and that resistance aside, the Marine Corps has no choice but to adapt to an adversary with a robust array of guided munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be sure, cuts such as the reduction from 24 infantry battalions to 21 slightly smaller infantry battalions, elimination of nearly all artillery batteries in exchange for a boom in rocket and missile batteries, and the complete elimination of tanks from the Marine Corps would fundamentally reshape the force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his editorial, Webb called out proposed cuts to field artillery and tanks, as well as cuts to infantry and reserve strength, and corresponding cuts to aviation, as permanent and potentially dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe proposal was based on extensive wargaming, in which the new Commandant has great confidence,\u201d Webb wrote. \u201cBut it is axiomatic that experimental war games (like staff studies) can be biased through subtle control of the methodology decided upon by those who design the war game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is no greater danger in military strategy than shaping a nation\u2019s force structure to respond to one specific set of contingencies, giving an adversary the ability to adjust and adapt beforehand. Nor would it serve the country\u2019s long-term interests for the Marine Corps to careen from two decades of overemphasis in the Middle East to a fixation with narrow naval scenarios in places like the South China Sea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Berger vehemently disagreed with Webb\u2019s conclusion that his guidance would leave the force too narrowly focused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2250\" height=\"1710\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Berger-cammies.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41888\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Berger-cammies.jpg.jpg 2250w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Berger-cammies.jpg.jpg?resize=300,228 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Berger-cammies.jpg.jpg?resize=768,584 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Berger-cammies.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,778 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Berger-cammies.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1167 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Berger-cammies.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1556 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2250px) 100vw, 2250px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David H. Berger and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Troy E. Black visited Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island July 29, 2019. (Warrant Officer Bobby J. Yarbrough\/Marine Corps)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAre we too narrowly focused? I would argue absolutely not,\u201d Berger said. \u201cWe\u2019re pacing, in terms of capability, against a very rapidly developing adversary so that we\u2019re never overmatched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBut that\u2019s not geographically constrained; that\u2019s not nationally constrained. The Navy and Marine Corps operates around the world and I am very confident that will continue. The force that we end up with, you can apply that force to any mission set. It will be very capable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Subordinate service?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Underpinning much of Webb\u2019s criticism is the notion that the Marine Corps would lose its identity as a separate service and would again become a subordinate service of the Navy, tied to the Navy\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Berger\u2019s plan \u201ccould permanently reduce the long-standing mission of global readiness that for more than a century has been the essential reason for its existence as a separate service,\u201d Webb wrote. \u201cIts long-term impact would undo the value of the Marine Corps as the one-stop guarantor of a homogeneous tactical readiness that can \u2018go anywhere, fight anybody, and win.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd after the centuries it took to establish the Marine Corps as a fully separate military service, it could reduce its present role by making it again subordinate to the funding and operational requirements of the Navy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s a criticism the Navy\u2019s top officer is attuned to. In the same roundtable, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday told reporters that the changes the Marine Corps wants to make \u2013 which includes having the Navy invest in smaller amphibious vessels that can more readily evade detection inside Chinese weapon range \u2013 must be worked through together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have to think about this together,\u201d Gilday said. \u201cIn his planning guidance the commandant asks the question: \u2018How does the Marine Corps best support the Navy?\u2019 We can\u2019t let either service fully determine what the answer to that question is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gilday said the long-awaited, much-delayed integrated Navy and Marine Corps force structure assessment was going to delve deeper into the issues of how the Navy and Marine Corps will fight together and that it would remain relevant throughout the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe force structure assessment that\u2019s ongoing, should finish up in the fall, it\u2019s not just what we\u2019re going to fight with or what we\u2019re going to operate with, it\u2019s how we\u2019re going to fight and how we are going to operate,\u201d Gilday said. \u201cAnd as the commandant said, although the Indo-Pacific gets most of the attention because that is where the pacing threat lies \u2013 and in some places I think we are pacing China \u2014 it\u2019s a fighting and operating concept that we are developing together that is applicable anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve got a global navy with global responsibilities. We have to be fairly adaptable with the force we\u2019re putting together so that it can meet any adversary on any terms and fight and win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"4754\" height=\"3174\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gilday.jpg_c5a547.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-35754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gilday.jpg_c5a547.jpg 4754w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gilday.jpg_c5a547.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gilday.jpg_c5a547.jpg?resize=768,513 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gilday.jpg_c5a547.jpg?resize=1024,684 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gilday.jpg_c5a547.jpg?resize=1536,1026 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gilday.jpg_c5a547.jpg?resize=2048,1367 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 4754px) 100vw, 4754px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday told sailors Wednesday that ensuring their health and safety was his top priority. (U.S. Navy photo by MC1 Raymond Diaz III)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Marines can and should maintain a separate identity, said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and retired submarine officer, and added that the Corps\u2019 plan, which includes spreading Marines throughout the fleet and not just on amphibious ships, didn\u2019t mean Marines will just be sailors now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMarines are still going to be separate from the Navy,\u201d Clark said. \u201cI think the integration that Berger is talking about is getting the Marine Corps more distributed through the Navy so they are not just on the [large amphibious ships], but it\u2019s not about making Marines a part of the crew.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is, however, some risk that the Marines\u2019 needs could be subordinated to the Navy\u2019s under the current budgeting construct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Marine Corps, which gets its budget as a slice of the larger Department of the Navy budget, should get more budgeting autonomy going forward to maintain the Marine Corps\u2019 independence as a separate service, Clark said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Marine Corps is leaning toward the idea of getting rid of land-based squadrons, basically lopping off the second half of the F-35B buy,\u201d Clark explained. \u201cWell, that would save a lot of money, but it would technically be the Navy\u2019s money now. But if it were Marine money and they chose to do that, they\u2019d be able to put the savings toward new vehicles, unmanned vessels and electronic warfare systems, which is what Berger wants to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Overdue change?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Webb\u2019s view of the plan is that in moving toward the future, the Marines are relying on unproven assumptions and that passing the responsibility for certain missions \u2014 tanks will be the role of the Army, for example \u2014 to other services that may not be available creates a fragile system that could be undone in wartime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDepending on how limited one views the future responsibilities of the Marine Corps, this plan is erected on a fragile house of cards: that future Marine Corps operational commitments should be shaped by the reduction of front-line infantry battalions, whose casualties in any sustained engagement would quickly require replacements that may not be available if the battlespace expands; by subjecting Marine Corps commitments to the needs of the Navy; and by an unproved reliance on the augmentation of combat units such as aviation assets and tanks from other services that may not be available and who will not have trained with the Marine Corps,\u201d Webb wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But for many observers, Berger\u2019s pivot of the Marine Corps back to its role as an arm of naval combat is long overdue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI thought Webb\u2019s article was well written and well-argued from a point of view that I think is exactly wrong,\u201d said Bob Work, former deputy defense secretary and a retired Marine colonel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPeople who say this is just for one contingency are not paying attention to what is happening,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe\u2019re going from 30 firing batteries to 26, but we\u2019re going from [23] cannon and [seven] rocket to five cannon and 21 rocket. And why is that important? Because rockets and missiles have so much more range and applicability to any fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBerger has a key understanding of the evolving military technical trends. He has a key understanding of the weaknesses of the Marine Corps in going up against an adversary that has technical parity with us. He has a good understanding of the budget and what he has to do within that budget.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"638\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TripoliLHAMAIN.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-83850\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TripoliLHAMAIN.jpg.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TripoliLHAMAIN.jpg.jpg?resize=300,160 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TripoliLHAMAIN.jpg.jpg?resize=768,408 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TripoliLHAMAIN.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,544 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The future amphibious assault ship Tripoli was launched at Huntington Ingalls Industries&#8217; shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., on May 1, 2017.  Tripoli incorporates an enlarged hangar deck, enhanced maintenance facilities, increased fuel capacity and additional storerooms to optimize aviation capabilities. (Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jerry Hendrix, an analyst with Telemus Group and a retired Navy captain, said his view is that the force that Berger wants to build is adaptable to circumstances around the world and in line with the military\u2019s desire to fight in a more spread-out way to avoid losing too many units to a concentrated strike with guided munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat they\u2019re looking for in changes to naval force structure \u2014 more smaller craft that can move Marines and their equipment around archipelagic waters \u2014 that seems to be narrowly focused on the Western Pacific,\u201d Hendrix said. \u201cAnd yet those same vessels have broad application in virtually every region of the world except perhaps the Arctic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Marines\u2019 new look has application in the Black Sea as well as in the Baltic, as well as in the Mediterranean and the Arabian gulf. And while it\u2019s designed against a pacing threat that is China, because of its ability to disaggregate its force and distribute it, then re-aggregate it in a coherent way, it has application in many different regions of the world where the United States has dominant interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Webb is widely respected in the Marine and national security community, Hendrix said, but that the changes Berger wants to make are necessary and overdue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cJim Webb is the conservative here, saying, \u2018The past has lessons to teach us and I suspect we\u2019re making a mistake by leaving those lessons behind as we head down this new path.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe question here is, if you accept that the Marine Corps has been essentially frozen in more or less its current form for 70 years, at what point do you move ahead, even incrementally? And I think that time has more than come. More than a quarter of the nation\u2019s history has flowed by since Inchon, and the Marine Corps looks remarkably the same.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Get an inside look at the intellectual battle for the future of the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":12339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-post-featured-layout","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":16,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news","left-column","home","middle-column"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"6":{"categories":["your-marine-corps","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","left-column","home","middle-column"],"primary_category":"your-marine-corps"}}},"categories":[160,162,16,133,36,30],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3361],"class_list":["post-43477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-daily","category-naval","category-us-naval-fleet-priorities","category-newsletters","category-smr"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"W4VM2Q6LRFCHXLS5X6IWNCVGJE","arc_canonical_url":"\/naval\/2020\/06\/01\/in-his-fight-to-change-the-corps-americas-top-marine-takes-friendly-fire\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"featured-layout","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>In his fight to change the Corps, America\u2019s top Marine takes friendly fire - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Get an inside look at the intellectual battle for the future of the Marine Corps.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In his fight to change the Corps, America\u2019s top Marine takes friendly fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Get an inside look at the intellectual battle for the future of the Marine Corps.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/06\/01\/in-his-fight-to-change-the-corps-americas-top-marine-takes-friendly-fire\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-01T09:00:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T23:36:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David B. Larter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David B. Larter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/naval\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/01\\\/in-his-fight-to-change-the-corps-americas-top-marine-takes-friendly-fire\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/naval\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/01\\\/in-his-fight-to-change-the-corps-americas-top-marine-takes-friendly-fire\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            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