– 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.

– Defense Tech – The Marine Corps is conducting ground, humidity and endurance testing on its new CH-53K Super Stallion heavy lift helicopter slated to fly next year.

– USNI News – The U.S. Marine Corps will phase out the Boeing AV-8B Harrier II jump jet by 2025 — about five years earlier than planned — and will instead extend the life of its fleet of aging Boeing F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters.

– FoxtrotAlpha – The USMC’s biggest exercise of the year is underway off the coast of Virginia. Bold Alligator ’14 brings together a wide array of Marine and Naval capabilities, along with those of other services and international partners. But this year’s exercise is unlike 2012’s; instead of a traditional beach assault, players will be stepping into the unknown.

– Marine Corps Times – Marines in Afghanistan handed over the Corps’ last remaining base there to Afghan National Army troops Sunday, marking the official end of the service’s primary work in support of the war.

– Bloomberg – A Marine Corps quick-reaction force in the Middle East for missions such as embassy evacuations and humanitarian aid will be fully manned by Nov. 1, according to the general behind the unit’s expansion.

– Marine Corps Times – New equipment being developed by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab is tailor-made to fit inside the service’s most expeditionary aircraft — the MV-22B Osprey.

– Defense News – US Marine Corps’ officials told reporters they are very focused on sea basing, particularly as a means of dealing with the “anti-access, area denial” problem.

– USNI News – U.S. Africa Command is deploying 100 U.S. Marines to Liberia to establish an interim air support for Ebola relief operations ahead of additional Army troops from the 101st Airborne Division due by the end of the month.

– Defense News – In line with the US Marine Corps’ new strategy document, “Expeditionary Force 21,” future amphibious assaults could be launched 65 to 100 miles from shore, with small landing teams exploiting gaps in enemy defenses. Gone are the days of deploying a large contingent across a beach, moving them from ship to shore in a major assault.

– Marine Corps Times – The top general in charge of Marine Corps Combat Development Command sees uncertainty in the road ahead. One thing remains perfectly clear though: The force is heading back to its traditional role as the nation’s amphibious shock troops, which requires new vehicles, new gear and new ways of operating.

– Marine Corps Times – The Marine Corps is preparing to deploy about 2,100 grunts to be based out of Kuwait in a new unit configuration designed to respond to crises in the region, according to Corps officials. Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force (SPMAGTF) Central Command will be equipped to perform noncombat evacuation, humanitarian assistance, infrastructure support, tactical aircraft recovery, fixed-site security and theater sustainment missions

– USNI News – In an aggressive move to reclaim its maritime expeditionary heritage after 13 years of grinding land-based combat and counterinsurgency/nation-building, the Marine Corps has published a new capstone conceptual document that charts a new course into the future.

– Stars and Stripes – The high-tech training exercise — “Large Scale Exercise 2014” — integrated troops on the ground, Marines in simulators and virtual forces, as part of the Marine Corps’ aggressive 10-year plan to prepare units to deploy anywhere, anytime.

– Marine Corps Times – Longer deployments are becoming increasingly necessary for the Marine Expeditionary Units and crisis response units. Deployment extensions for them are not unusual.

– War is Boring – AV-8B Harrier jump jets belonging to the U.S. Marine Corps’ 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are flying surveillance missions over Islamic State forces in northern Iraq, according to the crew of the Navy warship that carries the compact fighter-bombers in the Persian Gulf.

– Army Times – The Marine Corps is preparing to dispatch its second task force designed specifically for crisis response — this time to the Middle East in order to position for rapid response in that part of the world.

– Marine Corps Times – As the 13-year counter-insurgency campaign winds down in Afghanistan, Marines are quickly shifting attention to readiness for potential large-scale contingencies, often in not-so-subtle hat tips to regions ripe for instability — like the South China Sea, Ukraine and the Russian-annexed Crimea, and the now incredibly violent swath stretching between Iraq and Syria.

– War is Boring – The U.S. Marine Corps expands its Scandinavian arms stockpile.

– Time – Navy SEALs and commandos with Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command are among a cadre of troops working from the Navy’s new ship, the USS Independence, this month as part of the 2014 Rim of the Pacific military exercise off the coast of Hawaii.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – In a new strategic environment, the Marines’ ability to expeditiously get people and equipment ashore may be more important than ever. Emerging platforms and technologies promise to be game-changers.

– National Defense – Not only does the Marine Corps plan to buy a wheeled vehicle to replace its aging ship-to-shore personnel carriers, but senior leaders are now convinced that wheels are superior to the tracked vehicle that the Corps unsuccessfully spent $3 billion over a quarter of a century to develop.

– National Defense – Marines are coming to grips with the reality that they will not have the big-ticket hardware that they had hoped for. So they are adjusting their plans and strategies with the knowledge that they will have to live with existing equipment and lower-cost alternatives.

– Defense News – The US Marine Corps is putting a hard cap on the amount of money it wants to invest in upgrading parts of its aging fleet of AAV7A1 amphibious assault vehicles (AAVs), which the Corps wanted to retire but now plans on driving until the mid-2030s.

– War is Boring – The Pentagon needs new sea-surface ‘connectors,’ but can’t—or won’t—develop them.