– Forbes – When General Joseph F. Dunford became the 36th Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps at a ceremony in Washington last week, he inherited a dilemma that predecessor James Amos struggled with throughout his four-year tenure. Superficially, it’s a question about what kind of amphibious combat vehicles the service should be buying. In reality, it’s a debate about the future of the Marine Corps. Having organized its combat units for rapid response and forcible entry from the sea, the Corps faces a growing challenge in sustaining its core amphibious-warfare mission due to shrinking budgets and the increasingly sophisticated defenses of littoral adversaries.