– Aviation Week – A look at a flight aboard an MV-22 Osprey.

– Washington Post – As the Obama administration winds down the Army-centric war in Afghanistan, Pentagon leaders are seeking to place the Air Force, Navy and Marines in dominant roles to counter threats in the Asia-Pacific region, which they have deemed to be the nation’s next big national security challenge. Fearful that the new strategy will cut its share of the defense budget, the Army is launching an ambitious campaign to transform itself and assert its relevance in the Pacific. And that, in turn, is drawing the Army into a fight. With the Marines.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – National security and economic vitality are intertwined, and both depend on naval expeditionary capabilities that are as flexible and evolving as the challenges ahead.

– San Diego Union Tribune – Disaster response and buildup of forces key to Asia rebalance.

– Stars and Stripes – Defending territory and allies in the Pacific largely comes down to the ability to strike quickly from the sea, control a beachhead and secure it with troops and equipment. One of the U.S. military’s main weapons in that mission is the Landing Craft Air Cushion, a hovercraft that can travel across 70 percent of the world’s beaches compared to conventional craft’s 20 percent, and can hit a beach at upwards of 46 miles-per-hour with a full load of Marines, tanks and light armored vehicles. LCACs are also integral to humanitarian operations where ports and piers are damaged or blocked.

– Aviation Week – The U.S. Marine Corps invited the media Aug. 28 to visit the USS Wasp amphibious assault ship where the second set of developmental test trails for the F-35B are taking place. Being the savvy PAs that they are, USMC shipped us out and back on their newest rotorcraft, the Bell/Boeing MV-22 to see their newest fighter. (They also happen to be the Pentagon’s most expensive rotorcraft and fighter).

– US Naval War College Review – Before leaving his position as Secretary of Defense in 2010, Robert Gates offered a wake-up call in a speech to the Marine Corps Association in 2010: “It [is] time to redefine the purpose and size of the Marine Corps.” The perception
even then was that the Marine Corps had become too big, too heavy, and too far removed from its maritime roots…

– Breaking Defense – The US presence in the remote northern Australian port of Darwin will soar from its current 250 troops to 1,000 next year and ultimately to 2,200, granting a full Marine Expeditionary Unit an effective base of operations.

– National Defense – Analysts predict that as Navy and Marine Corps forces expand their presence in the Asia-Pacific region, they will face so-called “anti-access” threats from emerging powers such as a China. But Marine leaders in the region do not fear such scenarios, and believe that by establishing close ties with Asian allies, the United States will have access when it needs it, said Brig. Gen. Richard L. Simcock, deputy commander of Marine Forces Pacific. The command is the Corps’ largest, with approximately 83,000 Marines and sailors.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – A combat commander reflects on mission success in Afghanistan.

– DODBuzz – As the Marine Corps winds down ten years of land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and more fully returns to its amphibious and expeditionary origins, service planners are vigorously preparing the service for more sea basing and operations spread across wide swaths of ocean, senior Corps leaders explained.

– Washington Post – The Taliban fighters who blew up a half-dozen U.S. Marine fighter jets on a sprawling NATO base last fall were able to walk easily onto the encampment because patrols of the perimeter had been scaled back and watchtowers left unmanned, according to senior military officials.

– San Diego Union Tribune – Miramar general talks Afghan hand-off, accountability after Bastion attack.

– AOL Defense – Saturday saw the formal christening of the USNS Montford Point, the first of a new class of Navy vessel, the Mobile Landing Platform, meant to revolutionize the conduct of amphibious operations. By serving as a kind of floating pier, the MLP allows an amphibious force to offload heavy combat vehicles and bulk supplies at sea, without having to capture a major seaport — which can be a bloody chokepoint in seaborne operations.

– San Diego Union Tribune – The U.S. military spent the last decade fighting entrenched insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. What will the next war be like? Will it involve desert, mountains or jungle? An enemy who speaks Farsi or Korean? A national army fighting with tanks, or guerillas planting homemade bombs? It is impossible to know. While future wars remain unseen over the horizon and budget woes squeeze the military budget, the Marine Corps is resetting its combat training to get back to the basics and play to its strengths.

– American Conservative – William S. Lind describes what he thinks the US Marines should look like in the future.

– Time – Doug Macgregor takes on the USMC.

– San Diego Union Tribune – Q and A with Gen. James Amos on the future of the Corps.

– UPI – The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit sailed into the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations, which includes the Persian Gulf, the overall Middle East and eastern Africa. The 15th MEU has about 2,400 troops aboard three transport ships, including the amphibious assault ship USS Peleilu.

– Wall Street Journal – A 4-foot cobra slithered across the patrol’s path. The Marines shrugged—a snake couldn’t blow off their legs.

– Defense News – As the U.S. Marine Corps shifts its focus toward the Asia-Pacific region, the business of lift and logistics also shifts — from the fairly straightforward process of supplying troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to the enormous challenge of operating in a vast hemisphere of oceans and islands.

– Associated Press – The attackers destroyed six Harrier jump jets assigned to Yuma’s Marine Attack Squadron 211 and heavily damaged two others.

– Associated Press – A shipload of MV-22 Ospreys arrived in Japan on Monday amid protests over safety issues that have aggravated longstanding grassroots concern over the presence of American bases in the country.

– San Diego Union Tribune – Much has changed in Sangin since the spring of 2011. The Camp Pendleton unit then deployed to the area, the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, suffered more casualties during its seven-month tour to Sangin than any unit of the entire war.

– New York Times – CJ Chivers on how the Marines are preparing to let women enter infantry training.