{"id":37565,"date":"2018-10-10T15:29:44","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T15:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/10\/10\/a-15-marine-rifle-squad-may-be-the-reality-for-meu-deployments\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:29:13","slug":"a-15-marine-rifle-squad-may-be-the-reality-for-meu-deployments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2018\/10\/10\/a-15-marine-rifle-squad-may-be-the-reality-for-meu-deployments\/","title":{"rendered":"It soon may be a 15 Marine rifle squad \u2015 most likely for MEU deployments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The top Marine is considering bolstering the size of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/newsletters\/daily-news-roundup\/2018\/05\/21\/shrinking-the-infantry-squad-why-the-corps-wants-to-fight-with-fewer-marines\/\" target=\"_blank\">rifle squad<\/a> to 15 Marines for forward deployed Amphibious Ready Group Marine Expeditionary Units, or MEUs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In May, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert B. Neller announced he was cutting a Marine from the rifle squad, to bring it to 12, while adding two new billets, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2018\/09\/25\/the-state-of-the-marine-corps-can-the-corps-new-vision-actually-become-reality\/\" target=_blank>systems operator<\/a> and assistant squad leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, at a media roundtable on Wednesday, Neller said the actual decision was to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2018\/05\/04\/12-man-rifle-squads-including-a-squad-systems-operator-commandant-says\/\" target=\"_blank\">boost the squad to 15 Marines<\/a>, and forward deployed MEUs would be the most likely unit to carry the larger squads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though a final decision on the 15 man rifle squad has yet to be made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two models largely have been borne out of manpower concerns across the Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Neller has pushed a massive overhaul of the Corps to prepare the force for a bout with peer competitors, manning of the new future force has been a serious issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Corps had considered a range of models as it carried out a review of its organizational structure for the modernization effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cutting the squad down to 12 affords the Corps extra bodies to plus up the force in other high demand areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The problem: \u201cWe didn\u2019t know what the end strength of the Marine Corps was going to be,\u201d Neller told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Around 9\/11, the Corps had nearly 172,500 Marines, and during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan those numbers grew to 202,000. Now, the Corps has funding for 186,000 Marines, Neller explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWill that be there in five years, I don\u2019t know,\u201d Neller said. Marine Corps end strength numbers \u201cebb and flow\u201d with funding, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe made some decisions that were not easy,\u201d Neller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some Marines and analysts have argued Neller\u2019s decision to reduce the Marine rifle squad to 12 puts grunts at grave risk in a fight with near-peer rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Corps has argued a new suite of tech to include the Carl Gustaf anti-tank recoilless rifle, new night vision, automatic rifles and tablets will actually boost overall lethality, despite the loss of a Marine from the squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the top Marine says he\u2019s now considering a 15-man rifle squad for forward deployed Marines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 13-man rifle squad is already one of the largest for a modern military, Neller explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, 15 is \u201cdifficult for one person, I think, to command and control,\u201d Neller said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we added those two other people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two new billets will help absorb some of the informational overload from new tech like drones and tablets being pushed to the squads to boost battlefield situational awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Neller said the decision to add a systems operator and assistant squad leader was the real \u201cgame changer\u201d out of his infantry modernization efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Implementing the new billets into the squad will probably not kick off for another year or so, Neller said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In May the commandant decided to cut a Marine from the rifle squad to 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":27773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":15,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3472],"class_list":["post-37565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"YNUUZ3JXYVB7PMQVRNEVD37BMA","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2018\/10\/10\/a-15-marine-rifle-squad-may-be-the-reality-for-meu-deployments\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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