Conway: ‘Every Marine Into the Fight’
New policy means those who have not deployed will be sent to Iraq
By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jan 19, 2007 14:14:11 EST
The Corps’ 66,000 leathernecks who have not yet deployed to Iraq — more than one-third of the active-duty force — are now on-deck for combat, according to a new policy issued by the Corps’ top commander Jan. 19.
The Corps will immediately begin reviewing personnel assignments with the intent of sending all Marines into Iraq, Commandant Gen. James Conway told commanders in an all-Marine message titled “Every Marine Into the Fight.” Under Conway’s plan, Marines without Iraq experience could be reassigned to new units. Conway also urged commanders to support Marine requests to go into combat.
“Frequent deployments and short dwell periods have been the norm,” Conway said in the AlMar. “When they join our Corps, Marines expect to train, deploy and fight. That’s who we are. That’s what we do. And we must allow every Marine that opportunity.”
According to Defense Department data, there were about 218,000 total active-duty Marine deployments to Afghanistan or Iraq as of Sept. 30. Of those deployments, less than half have deployed only once, and about 56,000 deployed twice or more.
“As our Corps postures for the long war, and in order to help meet the challenges of frequent deployments, I want our Corps’ leadership to initiate policies to ensure all Marines, first-termers and career Marines alike, are provided the ability to deploy to a combat zone,” Conway said.
Conway told Marines in Ramadi in late December that about 37 percent of the Corps, or about 66,000 out of about 175,000 permanent troops, had not yet been into Iraq, an issue he said could hurt justification for force expansion plans. Another 5,000 troops are being funded temporarily, inflating the current end strength to 180,000 Marines.
The Bush administration has called for increasing the Corps’ end strength to 202,000 Marines in five years.
“If we’re going to grow the force on the one hand, we’ve got to be able to justify it to the bean counters ... how we have 66,000 Marines that haven’t been to Iraq or Afghanistan,” he said during the Dec. 26 town hall meeting with 1st Battalion, 6th Marines.
About half of those who have not yet deployed are potentially slated for future Iraq deployments, meaning this new policy would target the remaining 33,000.
In the message, Conway tasked manpower officials with reassigning Marines who “have yet to deploy to rotational units, but limit the impact on unit cohesion.”
Also, officials are to authorize “time-on-station” waivers to “effectively redistribute Marines affected by this guidance.”
Officials will also need to review deployment policies to Japan, where Marines deploy as part of the Unit Deployment Program.
He told unit commanders to identify Marines in their units who haven’t deployed and facilitate their rotation into the war zone, and when they receive requests to deploy, support those requests.
Conway said he believes many leathernecks want to go into combat but are denied. This new policy would give relief to Marines who have had a more constant combat tempo, some on their third and fourth deployments, he told the Marines in Ramadi. That battalion’s deployment has since been extended as part of President Bush’s plan to build up troops levels in Iraq in order decrease insurgent attacks in Anbar province.
“The main intent is to allow all Marines the opportunity in getting to the fight and increase the equity in how we’re deploying folks,” said Conway spokesman Lt. Col. T.V. Johnson.
It also will expand the combat experience base for the Corps, he said.
The new policy, which Johnson said would affect only active-duty troops, was based directly on the feedback Conway heard during recent town hall meetings with Marines who complained that they weren’t able to deploy.
“It brought it to the surface. It was a constant theme,” Johnson said. “Marines want to go. The ones who’ve been turned down, they’re not happy about it.”
