– Associated Press – The cacophony of gunfire and bombing that dominated this southern river valley in the fall has dropped to a whisper, but U.S. Marines who have paid a heavy price battling the Taliban in Afghanistan’s deadliest spot expect the insurgents to hit back hard.

– Defense Technology International – The Marine Corps Force Structure Review Group reported to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday of last week, and Gates endorsed its conclusions.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – It’s time for the Marine Corps to examine its role across the broad expanse of national strategy rather than the narrow focus of a single-purpose mission.

– New York Times – CJ Chivers shares video of a Marine ambush in Afghanistan.

– Washington Post – The backroom congressional battle over Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates’s plan to eliminate the Marine Corps’ multibillion-dollar amphibious Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle will be fought out at the same time as the Corps wrestles with how to shrink its forces.

– Washington Post – A long-troubled $14 billion program to build a landing craft for the Marine Corps is destined for the chopping block, defense officials and analysts said Wednesday, part of $100 billion in savings that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has pledged to squeeze from the Pentagon’s budget.

– Defense Technology International – On December 11, the Navy and Marine Corps kicked off Bold Alligator, a simulation that marks the largest joint fleet simulated amphibious exercise in the last 10 years. Brig. Gen. Christopher S. Owens of the II Marine Expeditionary Force, the Marine component of Exercise Bold Alligator, said in a conference call last week that while it’s the first brigade-level amphibious exercise in quite some time, “it’s also a first step in our revitalization of our amphibious proficiency with larger or brigade-size units” after a decade of kicking sand.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – As adversaries and weapons grow more advanced, amphibious doctrine must evolve, and the Navy—Marine Corps team must keep the blade sharpened for sea-to-shore capabilities.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – With its ability to work across the seams of other services’ domains and its value in the all-important littoral sphere, the Marine Corps remains as relevant as ever in the 21st century.

– Armed Forces Journal – The F-35B will give the Marine Corps unprecedented basing options.

– Associated Press – The Marines patrolling through the green fields and tall mud compounds of Helmand province’s Sangin district say they are literally in a race for their lives. They are trying to adjust their tactics to outwit Taliban fighters, who have killed more coalition troops here than in any other Afghan district this year.

– Defense Technology International – Bill Sweetman asks if the F-35B – and, by extension, Marine tactical aviation – at risk?

– San Diego Union Tribune – The new commandant of the Corps is calling on Marines to prepare for a future of increasingly irregular warfare by shaping themselves into a lighter, more agile and flexible force ready to be the “first to fight” or respond to a broad spectrum of missions, from heavy combat to humanitarian assistance.

– Los Angeles Times – It is a familiar pattern for Marines serving in Helmand province, a stronghold of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. Their initial pushes into areas controlled by insurgents have been met with heavy resistance, including small arms fire, ambushes, and lethal improvised bomb attacks.

– New York Times – In Marja, Afghanistan, female Marines have daily skirted Pentagon rules restricting women in combat.

– San Diego Union Tribune – In the deserts of southern Afghanistan, Marines from Camp Pendleton’s 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion are sending a message to insurgents: We are watching.

– San Diego Union Tribune – Forty female Marines volunteered to go to the highly segregated southern Pashtun region to try to connect with the half of the population inaccessible to male Marines.

– Defense Technology International – The US Marine Corps could make greater use of the Air Force’s F-35A variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, as delays and a major review cast more doubt on the feasibility of meeting a late-2012 IOC date with the F-35B short take-off, vertical landing variant.

– Wired – Is the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle about to be terminated by Congress?

– Armed Forces Journal – The Marine Corps has embarked upon a comprehensive overhaul of its aviation force that is scheduled to culminate in 15 years with the replacement of every airframe currently in service.

– San Diego Union Tribune – The 3/1 Battalion has about 1,000 Marines spread over nearly 50 positions and 1,000 square kilometers. The proliferation of bases was prompted by a counterinsurgency strategy based on persistent contact between troops and the local population. And it was made possible by technological advancements allowing the posts to stay in communication with each other in ways they couldn’t when the war began nine years ago.

Los Angeles Times – Marines in Afghanistan prepared for a long haul

A year since the U.S. troop buildup began with battalions descending on the Helmand River Valley, optimism about a quick defeat of the Taliban has given way to more sober assessments.

Defense Technology International – USMC Digs In To Save EFV

Secretary of Defense Gates may have met his match when taking on the U.S. Marine Corps and its expeditionary fighting vehicle (EFV), which Gates has started to speculate – quite publicly – might not be worth the risk and cost.