By Carlo Munoz
The Marine Corps is looking to embrace a back to basic approach in its acquisition portfolio, eschewing a ‘culture of plenty’ mindset that has resulted in the near-cancellation of its top procurement priority and the outright termination of another, according to Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos.
“What we have been in is a culture of plenty…and I am talking about the past six years,” Amos said. The service’s operational focus in Iraq and Afghanistan has played no small part in fostering that mentality, when it came to requirements and procurement, he said
“When you needed something, you got it. You didn’t have to sit around and try and barter and figure out what is more important [if] I can only have ‘A’ or ‘B,'” the four-star general said. “Well, over the past six years, we have been able to have A and B.” His comments came during a Feb. 18 Defense Writers Group breakfast.
That lack of restraint has led to some bad decision making on both the requirements development and acquisition management sides of the service. Those decisions, and the subsequent cost overruns and schedule delays they brought on, forced the Pentagon to curtail development of the Marine Corps variant of the Lockheed Martin [LMT] Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and cancel the service’s Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) program.
The EFV, built by General Dynamics [GD], was a “classic” example of how the service had gotten out hand, and Amos said he fully supported the decision to axe the program. On the F-35B, the service chief said he supported the decision to put the fighter on two-year probation, but added it was imperative the program come off probation sooner than later.
That said, the decisions on EFV and JSF were an indication that the service needed to “get back to our frugal roots” within its requirements and acquisition shops, Amos said.
“We have always had to make choices, and those choices will lead to what we need, versus what we want,” Amos said. “So I have told…senior leadership [and] the general officers and our commanders that we are going to get back to our frugal roots.”
While the service chief was quick to note that such an effort would not result in Marines “turning all our Gor-Tex in and going back to the M-1 [Garand] rifle,” he did say that the change in mindset would re-instill a sense of discipline in decision making that has been lacking over the past six years.
“As we take a look at what we need in the future, in the way of equipment…we need to make sure it is not just something we need, but something we can afford,” Amos said. While several factors contributed to the EFV decision, “the primary one was budget driven, and it was a matter of affordability.”
And with budgets expected to remain static at best, Marine Corps leaders “have got to be able to build a force…and I have got to be able to source that force and fight that force,” under that stringent spending environment, Amos said. “I want the Marines…on notice that ‘OK, let’s start thinking about what we need, versus what we want,” the service chief said.
Aside from the financial benefits that back to basics approach will provide, the move will also help the service reconstitute itself back into a “middleweight force” light enough to get to the fight and heavy enough to finish it, according to Amos.
“We are an expeditionary force…and you cannot do that if you have got a huge footprint. We don’t want a huge footprint,” the four-star general added.
The unchecked push for bigger and better over the past six years has resulted in some interesting procurement initiatives.
Recalling an effort to replace the service’s standard mobile water supply tank–known in Marine Corps parlance as a “water bowl” — with a larger version, Amos asked the program officials why the upgrade was necessary because the new version was heavier and less maneuverable.
“Why do we need it? Because we now have a seven-ton truck now that can tow it,” Amos quipped. “Because we can, we said let’s buy it. We canceled that program.”