Organization of the United States Marine Corps
Most significantly, in the aftermath of World War II, Army efforts to restructure the American defense establishment involved the dissolution of the Marine Corps and the folding of its capabilities into the other services.
[2] Both the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC), heads of their respective services, report directly to the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV).
As a result, the Navy and Marine Corps have a close relationship, more so than with other branches of the United States Armed Forces.
[3] [4] This relationship stems from the Navy providing transport, logistical, medical, and religious service as well as combat support to put Marine units into the fight where they are needed.
[5] By Congressional mandate, the OPNAV Director, Expeditionary Warfare Branch (N95) is filled by a Marine general.
Since the Marines do not train chaplains or medical personnel, officers and enlisted sailors from the Navy fill these roles.
The MAGTF structure reflects a strong tradition in the Corps towards self-sufficiency and a commitment to combined arms, both essential assets to an expeditionary force often called upon to act independently in discrete, time-sensitive situations.
The history of the Marine Corps as well has led to a wariness towards relying too much on its sister services, and towards joint operations in general[citation needed].
A MAGTF varies in size from the smallest, a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), based around a reinforced infantry battalion and a composite squadron, up to the largest, a Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), which ties together a Division, an Air Wing, and a Logistics Group under a MEF Headquarters Group.
The air, or aviation, combat element (ACE) consists of a composite Marine Aircraft Group containing several helicopter, tilt rotor, tactical fixed wing, and UAV squadrons and/or detachments, as well as aviation ground support, command and control, and air defense units.
The MAG is roughly equivalent in terms of numbers of aircraft and personnel to a US Army Combat Aviation Brigade.
Commanded by a colonel with a lieutenant colonel as XO, it consists of a battalion landing team (BLT), a reinforced infantry battalion, as its GCE and a Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM), reinforced with detachments of helicopters, tactical fixed wing, and UAV aircraft, as well as aviation ground support, command and control, and air defense detachments, as its ACE.
The MEU's LCE consists of a CLB, and its CE is a company-sized version of the MEB's battalion-sized headquarters group.
Battalions, and larger units commanded by a field grade officer, have an executive officer as the second-in-command and an executive staff consisting of: Manpower / Administration & Personnel (S-1), Intelligence (S-2), Operations, Plans & Training (S-3), Logistics (S-4), Civil Affairs (wartime only) (S-5), and Communications (S-6) sections.
The mission of Marine Corps aviation is to provide the MAGTF commander with an aviation combat element (ACE) capable of conducting air operations in support of the seizure and defense of advanced naval bases, and conducting such land operations as may be directed by the Joint Force commander.
Aviation units are organized into: The four Marine aircraft wings are: Beyond logistics (i.e., motor transport, supply, and maintenance), the LCE provides engineer support (i.e., heavy equipment, bulk fuel and water, utilities, bridging, explosive ordnance disposal, and reinforcement to combat engineer units), medical and dental personnel, and other specialized units (e.g., aerial delivery and landing support).
[10] However, resistance from within the Marine Corps dissipated when Marine leaders watched the Corps' "crown jewels"—the 15th and 26th MEU (Special Operations Capable) {MEU(SOC)s}—sit on the sidelines during the early stages of Operation Enduring Freedom while other special warfare units led the way.
