Marine commandant says deploying troops to border poses 'unacceptable risk' to readiness

In memos, Marine commandant says deploying troops to border poses 'unacceptable risk' to readiness


Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

3/21/19
WASHINGTON — The commandant of the Marines has warned the Pentagon that deployments to the southwest border and funding transfers under the president’s emergency declaration, among other unexpected demands, have posed “unacceptable risk to Marine Corps combat readiness and solvency.” In two internal memos, Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller said the “unplanned/unbudgeted” deployment along the border that President Donald Trump ordered last fall, and shifts of other funds to support border security, had forced him to cancel or reduce planned military training in at least five countries, and delay urgent repairs at bases. The border deployment and funding transfers, as well as recovery costs from Hurricanes Florence and Michael, new housing allowances and civilian pay raises, are taking a toll on combat readiness, Neller wrote to Navy Secretary Richard Spencer and Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan. Neller, a four-star general, said because of the problems, Marines will not participate in planned training exercises in Indonesia, Scotland and Mongolia, and will reduce their participation in joint exercises with Australia and South Korea.

Marines “rely on the hard, realistic training” of the exercises “to develop the individual and collective skills necessary to prepare for high-end combat,” Neller said. He complained about canceling or shrinking the Marines’ participation “at a time where we are attempting to double down on strengthening alliances and attracting new partners.” While the armed services chiefs often warn of budget shortfalls, independent experts who reviewed Neller’s memos described the language as unusually strong, in particular because it cites the president’s highest-profile political priorities. “It’s pretty unusual for the commandant to be raising concerns that … a top political priority for the president is undermining the ability of the Marine Corps to do the training they need,” said Mandy Smithberger, a defense expert at the Project for Government Oversight, a nonpartisan independent watchdog group. “It looks like from Commandant Neller’s perspective, he does think these policies are undermining readiness,” she added.

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It's good to see Gen. Neller speaking out about a political policy that he feels is undermining the combat readiness of his service branch.

Related: Marine Corps commandant says deploying troops to the border poses ‘unacceptable risk’

Fake News! Trump knows more than the generals!

The blame lands on the Democrats. If there can not be a physical barrier at the border then there has to be a human force barrier.

Whoever gave the memos to the press should be identified. Anyone and everyone involved in the disclosure should be prosecuted for divulging national security secrets and locked up in solitary confinement in a Super Max prison prohibited from talking to anyone so they release no more national security secrets. Divulging secret memos of military vulnerabilities is an extremely serious leaking of national security secrets.

The only reason for this story is because the LA Times certainly did not want to feature that under President Trump our military accomplished what President Obama couldn't - the destruction of ISIS. Instead, the LA Times will push this story, which of course is contracted by the destruction of ISIS.

Of course, the leftwing hates the military anyway so rather than cheering the victory of our military the LA Times found a way to attack our military as weak and unprepared. Nothing new about any of that from the anti-American leftwing press.

:roll:

As usual, you got nothing.

joko104 said:

Whoever gave the memos to the press should be identified. Anyone and everyone involved in the disclosure should be prosecuted for divulging national security secrets and locked up in solitary confinement in a Super Max prison prohibited from talking to anyone so they release no more national security secrets. Divulging secret memos of military vulnerabilities is an extremely serious leaking of national security secrets.

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I wasn’t aware the memo was classified. Leaking unclassified memos is a fireable offense, not a criminal one. Unless it was a member of the military, but usually when these kind of leaks come from the DoD it is from civilian DoD employees.

Regardless of how they were obtained, the memos content is disturbing to say the least.

Marine Corps readiness is being compromised due to Trump aggrandizing military funds for his vanity wall, a wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for.

joko104 said:

The blame lands on the Democrats. If there can not be a physical barrier at the border then there has to be a human force barrier.

Click to expand...

And that, right there, is what this 'wall' crap is all about. Trump did diddly-squat about his wall while the Republicans controlled the purse strings. As soon as the Democrats took the House it became a national emergency, it became so urgent that the Democrats build a wall that Trump had to declare emergency measures powers.
That wall bull**** isn't about border security, it's about trying to make the Democrats look bad. It's about expecting the Democrats to make good on Trump's campaign promises.
You watch- if the Democrats continue to refuse to build his wall for him, he's gonna insist they lock up Hillary Clinton, too, and repeal and replace Obamacare so it'll be their fault none of it happens.
Ever ask yourself why his own party wouldn't come through for him, requiring him to insist the Democrats do his work for him? 'Course not.

Rogue Valley said:

In memos, Marine commandant says deploying troops to border poses 'unacceptable risk' to readiness

Click to expand...

Why?

Do you plan on going to war soon?

Unless you're planning on going to war soon, it has no impact on readiness, and if there is a risk, it's because the Marine Corps commandant, who doesn't know squat about anything else, is derelict in his duties to maintain the readiness of the Marine Corps, so he should be relieved of duty.

Mircea said:

Why?

Do you plan on going to war soon?

Unless you're planning on going to war soon, it has no impact on readiness, and if there is a risk, it's because the Marine Corps commandant, who doesn't know squat about anything else, is derelict in his duties to maintain the readiness of the Marine Corps, so he should be relieved of duty.

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Gen. Neller has an M.A. in Human Resource Management from Pepperdine University which is more than Trump has. The general has a B.A. in History and Speech Communication from the University of Virginia. Every general and admiral is more and better educated than Trump is and moreover has the cultural experience of living in various locations abroad throughout much of his career if not most of it.

Gen. Neller speaks for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in his policy differences with Trump and in recognizing the risks presented by Trump in alienating Mexico and the Mexican people from the United States. To include equally at the least the risks to Marine Corps readiness and capability that Trump's deployment of active duty troops to the southern border pose to the national security and stability.

Pentagon budget analysts calculate the border deployment of active duty troops will hit almost $1 billion by the end of this year. That is a billion bucks Gen. Neller could put to actual good use instead of it being wasted on a Trump political stunt that has multiple negative impacts on the national security and stability at home and abroad.

Mircea said:

Why? Do you plan on going to war soon?

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Been there done that.

Mircea said:

Unless you're planning on going to war soon, it has no impact on readiness, and if there is a risk, it's because the Marine Corps commandant, who doesn't know squat about anything else, is derelict in his duties to maintain the readiness of the Marine Corps, so he should be relieved of duty.

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The General says it does have an impact. You'll forgive me of course if I take his expert analysis over that of some anonymous stable-genius on the Internet.

Tangmo said:

Gen. Neller has an M.A. in Human Resource Management from Pepperdine University which is more than Trump has. The general has a B.A. in History and Speech Communication from the University of Virginia. Every general and admiral is more and better educated than Trump is and moreover has the cultural experience of living in various locations abroad throughout much of his career if not most of it.

Gen. Neller speaks for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in his policy differences with Trump and in recognizing the risks presented by Trump in alienating Mexico and the Mexican people from the United States. To include equally at the least the risks to Marine Corps readiness and capability that Trump's deployment of active duty troops to the southern border pose to the national security and stability.

Pentagon budget analysts calculate the border deployment of active duty troops will hit almost $1 billion by the end of this year. That is a billion bucks Gen. Neller could put to actual good use instead of it being wasted on a Trump political stunt that has multiple negative impacts on the national security and stability at home and abroad.

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$1 billion? You are aware that the defense budget is over $700 billion. $1 billion is not even 1/7th of one percent.

I may be wrong but did not some of the money he was griping about cover excercises in mongolia? Why would the marines need to practice in mongolia? For one it is entirely landlocked, two it is a russian ally, three to do anything in that region requires either china or russia to grant permission or to fight russia or china to gain access.

Truthfully odds are most of his gripes were scrapped projects that were scrapped before the national emergency declaration.

Rogue Valley said:

In memos, Marine commandant says deploying troops to border poses 'unacceptable risk' to readiness

Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.



It's good to see Gen. Neller speaking out about a political policy that he feels is undermining the combat readiness of his service branch.

Related: Marine Corps commandant says deploying troops to the border poses ‘unacceptable risk’

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So the general is more concerned with defending Scotland than our border. Perhaps he should resign if he can't find a way to fulfill the orders from his CIC.

washunut said:

So the general is more concerned with defending Scotland than our border. Perhaps he should resign if he can't find a way to fulfill the orders from his CIC.

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Gen. Neller speaks for the Joint Chiefs of which he is a member.

He's defending us against Russia, China, Iran, NK -- not Mexico. And not El Salvador among other tiny states.

There's no need of combat ready troops on the border against unarmed civilians that Trump tried unsuccessfully to get shoot to kill Rules of Engagement orders that Pentagon rejected. Some Republicans / Conservatives wanted to line up machine guns at the border. Pentagon chiefs and the US Northern Command which defends the continental USA doesn't want to go near this.

Northern Command in Colorado is part of North American Air Defense Command, Norad. Northcom's main ground force is the 5th Army. You're talking overkill here while talking killing unarmed civilians who go near a rock or a fence. It's lunatic paranoia and Pentagon knows this.

beerftw said:

I may be wrong but did not some of the money he was griping about cover excercises in mongolia? Why would the marines need to practice in mongolia? For one it is entirely landlocked, two it is a russian ally, three to do anything in that region requires either china or russia to grant permission or to fight russia or china to gain access.

Truthfully odds are most of his gripes were scrapped projects that were scrapped before the national emergency declaration.

Click to expand...

Wherever the money might be coming from it can be better used for such things as sorely needed maintenence and repairs and the like. Neither do Nato, USA nor Mongolia need the permission of Russia or China to do anything. And I hope to hell you're not talking about USMC needing any.


Mongolia: Pentagon Trojan Horse Wedged Between China And Russia

NATO now has a military partner squeezed between Russia and China.

March 31, 2010

Mongolia’s entire northern frontier is abutted by Russia and its eastern, southern and western borders by China. NATO announced that the nation had become the 45th country to contribute troops for the North Atlantic military bloc’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The 44th nation to be formally dragooned into NATO’s first ground and first Asian war was Montenegro, the world’s newest (universally recognized) state.

“The landlocked nation has previously operated artillery training teams in Afghanistan and sent troops to serve with the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq,” and in the course of doing so “Mongolia’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan has helped cement its alliance with the United States and secure grants and aid.” [4]

U.S. Marines were deployed to the capital of Mongolia, Ulan Bator (Ulaanbaatar), “for the first time in the history of the Marine Corps, Aug. 18, 2003 in support of Khaan Quest ’03.”

The live-fire military exercise, which has been held every year since, is named after Genghis Khan. The announced purpose of the training exercises, run by the Pentagon’s Pacific Command, has been to upgrade Mongolian soldiers to United Nations peacekeeping standards.

Mongolia: Pentagon Trojan Horse Wedged Between China And Russia | Antiwar literary and philosophical selections


Trump and his boss Putin don't like this either -- of course. Neither is it popular in Beijing and Pyongyang. Another thing we know is you're always on Putin's side too.

Rogue Valley said:

In memos, Marine commandant says deploying troops to border poses 'unacceptable risk' to readiness

Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.



It's good to see Gen. Neller speaking out about a political policy that he feels is undermining the combat readiness of his service branch.

Related: Marine Corps commandant says deploying troops to the border poses ‘unacceptable risk’

Click to expand...

How many marines are deployed at the border?

Rogue Valley said:

In memos, Marine commandant says deploying troops to border poses 'unacceptable risk' to readiness

Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.



It's good to see Gen. Neller speaking out about a political policy that he feels is undermining the combat readiness of his service branch.

Related: Marine Corps commandant says deploying troops to the border poses ‘unacceptable risk’

Click to expand...

One general in a thousand publicly criticizes Trump and he is the man the democrats hold up as the standard. That is horsesh**.

Fletch said:

How many marines are deployed at the border?

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Hello Question Man. Welcome to the Military Forum which you don't frequent much.

Gen. Neller is commandant USMC and as such he is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. JCS are the chief uniformed advisors to Potus/CinC, which means they can argue with him. Gen. Neller sent his memos to the SecDef and he has testified to the Armed Services Committees of the Congress which appointed him to his rank and confirmed his position as CMC.

As for USMC, Gen. Neller has pointed out he needs bucks desperately for maintenance, spare parts, repairs, housing, allowances, upgrades and much more.


It's practically unanimous btw....


No Military Threat on Southern US Border, Says NORTHCOM Commander

But the head of Northern Command says barriers have “some ramifications” for national security.


Air Force General Terrence O'Shaughnessy inspects military camp at the southern border, Nov. 7, 2018. Gen. O'Shaughnessy is commander, North American Air Defense Command and chief of US Northern Command to include the 5th Army in defense of the continental USA.


There is no military threat on the U.S. border with Mexico, the general in charge of defending the United States from foreign attacks told lawmakers Tuesday.

The comments by Air Force Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy come as more than 5,000 military troops are deployed to in support of federal law enforcement along the border. O’Shaughnessy leads U.S. Northern Command, the arm of the Pentagon created after Sept. 11, 2001, to defend the United States.

“It is not a military threat,” O’Shaughnessy told the Senate Armed Services Committee when asked about civilians crossing the border by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the panel’s ranking member.

The general instead pointed to “very real” military threats from Russia and China.

O’Shaughnessy’s testimony is the latest example of a general officer, who is supposed to remain apolitical, having to answer for controversial Trump administration policies. Earlier this month, Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, said he was not consulted about withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria.

No Military Threat on Southern US Border, Says NORTHCOM Commander - Defense One


Congress votes generals and admirals into their rank and Congress votes to pay 'em. Potus/CinC has to sign off on it and that's it -- its an offer he can't refuse. The Senate votes to appoint generals and admirals to head each armed service and the major theater and combatant commands. Generals and admirals are called before congress regularly to report and to answer questions without prejudice. It's checks and balances, coequal branches of government, balance of powers. It's congress overseeing the armed forces and who's running 'em. The what, the why, the where and the how.

marke said:

One general in a thousand publicly criticizes Trump and he is the man the democrats hold up as the standard. That is horsesh**.

Click to expand...

Let me help you with that thx.

One general in a thousand speaks up for Trump. For instance, of the 80+ retired generals and admirals of 1-4 star rank who endorse Trump in 2016 all but a few have gone silent. I can count on one hand those of 'em that speak up somewhat for Trump some times. Haven't heard any of 'em on this issue however. You?

JCS torpedo'd the Trump Jong Un parade when Pentagon came in with a budget of almost $100 million. That was after JCS got Trump Jong Un to accept changing the date he'd wanted, to November 11 from July 4th so it would be a somber affair rather than a celebration of Cadet Bone Spurs becoming CinC and dumping on POWs while ignoring MIAs.

AF Gen. Hyten commander of the nuclear arsenal said publicly he'd have to tell Trump any order to launch would need to be discussed with the general to seek out alternatives. This was during Trump's "Fire and Fury" dayze. Gen. Hyten is the former commander of Air Force Space Command who told Trump we don't need a new and separate 6th force, U.S. Space Command. The general said the thought was good though, if untimely...and costly plus impractical.

AF Gen. Hayden formerly chief of CIA and NSA said in retirement killing terrorists families would be a war crime. Gen. O'Shaughnessy of US Northern Command whose 5th Army troops are at the southern border said shooting civilians possessing or throwing rocks as Trump was babbling about would be a violation of the laws of war and of the United States (war declared or undeclared).

Admiral McRaven the Special Ops commander who assembled and oversaw the bin Laden kill said in retirement Trump's statements against the media are "the greatest threat to freedom of the press in my lifetime."

Retired Gen. McCaffrey of Desert Storm destruction said in retirement, "For some unknown reason, I regret to say President Trump seems to be under the sway of Mr. Putin." And that "President Trump is a danger to the national security."

Gen. Thomas the Special Ops commander at the time said the "government is in an unbelievable turmoil" and that as a commander of troops in the field he "hopes it gets straightened out soon."

There's a lot more of 'em and it if you want it all. Just ask. Another flash in the pan post would be ok too. No problem.

Tangmo said:

Wherever the money might be coming from it can be better used for such things as sorely needed maintenence and repairs and the like. Neither do Nato, USA nor Mongolia need the permission of Russia or China to do anything. And I hope to hell you're not talking about USMC needing any.


Mongolia: Pentagon Trojan Horse Wedged Between China And Russia

NATO now has a military partner squeezed between Russia and China.

March 31, 2010

Mongolia’s entire northern frontier is abutted by Russia and its eastern, southern and western borders by China. NATO announced that the nation had become the 45th country to contribute troops for the North Atlantic military bloc’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The 44th nation to be formally dragooned into NATO’s first ground and first Asian war was Montenegro, the world’s newest (universally recognized) state.

“The landlocked nation has previously operated artillery training teams in Afghanistan and sent troops to serve with the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq,” and in the course of doing so “Mongolia’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan has helped cement its alliance with the United States and secure grants and aid.” [4]

U.S. Marines were deployed to the capital of Mongolia, Ulan Bator (Ulaanbaatar), “for the first time in the history of the Marine Corps, Aug. 18, 2003 in support of Khaan Quest ’03.”

The live-fire military exercise, which has been held every year since, is named after Genghis Khan. The announced purpose of the training exercises, run by the Pentagon’s Pacific Command, has been to upgrade Mongolian soldiers to United Nations peacekeeping standards.

Mongolia: Pentagon Trojan Horse Wedged Between China And Russia | Antiwar literary and philosophical selections


Trump and his boss Putin don't like this either -- of course. Neither is it popular in Beijing and Pyongyang. Another thing we know is you're always on Putin's side too.

Click to expand...

You might need a geography lesson, mongolia is bordered all the way around by either china or russia, so yes the us would need permission to fly through there unless by do not need permission you mean willing to fight nuclear war and ww3, in which case they would be absolutely insane.

They are allied with the us, japan russia and even china, but russia is their oldest ally and currently their strongest since the us stopped investing heavily into the nation. The location gives the us no real advantage as moving in troops and supplying them to halt any agression would require fighting the second and third most powerful armies on earth. To top that off mongolia is such a lightly populated country with a tiny military that has zero threat to either china or russia expansion.

Having troops in mongolia was such a dumb decision from the getgo and at best it looks more like a decision made when we deemed russia friendly post soviet union as a land mass to counter china, however it is now not the case nor has been for quite a while.

Tangmo said:

Gen. Neller speaks for the Joint Chiefs of which he is a member.

He's defending us against Russia, China, Iran, NK -- not Mexico. And not El Salvador among other tiny states.

There's no need of combat ready troops on the border against unarmed civilians that Trump tried unsuccessfully to get shoot to kill Rules of Engagement orders that Pentagon rejected. Some Republicans / Conservatives wanted to line up machine guns at the border. Pentagon chiefs and the US Northern Command which defends the continental USA doesn't want to go near this.

Northern Command in Colorado is part of North American Air Defense Command, Norad. Northcom's main ground force is the 5th Army. You're talking overkill here while talking killing unarmed civilians who go near a rock or a fence. It's lunatic paranoia and Pentagon knows this.

Click to expand...

Why in this post and another do you keep using northern command even though norther command is not in charge of that region, should it not be southern command making that call? Seriously what does southcom say about it because using northcom over issues related to southcom for testimony is like demanding your plumber give a reason on why your computer video card is not working instead of asking a computer tech, methinks southcom did not give the answer wanted by people like you. northcom only goes down to mexico while south com covers further south than that, including those nations northcom is saying are not a threat through immigration.

Also to note the most serious plans russia china nk etc have for invading and taking over america do not even involve an invading army, but using proxy forces from south and central america.

Tangmo said:

Hello Question Man. Welcome to the Military Forum which you don't frequent much.

Gen. Neller is commandant USMC and as such he is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. JCS are the chief uniformed advisors to Potus/CinC, which means they can argue with him. Gen. Neller sent his memos to the SecDef and he has testified to the Armed Services Committees of the Congress which appointed him to his rank and confirmed his position as CMC.

As for USMC, Gen. Neller has pointed out he needs bucks desperately for maintenance, spare parts, repairs, housing, allowances, upgrades and much more.


It's practically unanimous btw....


No Military Threat on Southern US Border, Says NORTHCOM Commander

But the head of Northern Command says barriers have “some ramifications” for national security.

Air Force General Terrence O'Shaughnessy inspects military camp at the southern border, Nov. 7, 2018. Gen. O'Shaughnessy is commander, North American Air Defense Command and chief of US Northern Command to include the 5th Army in defense of the continental USA.


There is no military threat on the U.S. border with Mexico, the general in charge of defending the United States from foreign attacks told lawmakers Tuesday.

The comments by Air Force Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy come as more than 5,000 military troops are deployed to in support of federal law enforcement along the border. O’Shaughnessy leads U.S. Northern Command, the arm of the Pentagon created after Sept. 11, 2001, to defend the United States.

“It is not a military threat,” O’Shaughnessy told the Senate Armed Services Committee when asked about civilians crossing the border by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the panel’s ranking member.

The general instead pointed to “very real” military threats from Russia and China.

O’Shaughnessy’s testimony is the latest example of a general officer, who is supposed to remain apolitical, having to answer for controversial Trump administration policies. Earlier this month, Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, said he was not consulted about withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria.

No Military Threat on Southern US Border, Says NORTHCOM Commander - Defense One


Congress votes generals and admirals into their rank and Congress votes to pay 'em. Potus/CinC has to sign off on it and that's it -- its an offer he can't refuse. The Senate votes to appoint generals and admirals to head each armed service and the major theater and combatant commands. Generals and admirals are called before congress regularly to report and to answer questions without prejudice. It's checks and balances, coequal branches of government, balance of powers. It's congress overseeing the armed forces and who's running 'em. The what, the why, the where and the how.

Click to expand...

Is there an answer to my question in there somewhere?

beerftw said:

Why in this post and another do you keep using northern command even though norther command is not in charge of that region, should it not be southern command making that call? Seriously what does southcom say about it because using northcom over issues related to southcom for testimony is like demanding your plumber give a reason on why your computer video card is not working instead of asking a computer tech, methinks southcom did not give the answer wanted by people like you. northcom only goes down to mexico while south com covers further south than that, including those nations northcom is saying are not a threat through immigration.

Also to note the most serious plans russia china nk etc have for invading and taking over america do not even involve an invading army, but using proxy forces from south and central america.

Click to expand...

US Northern Command AOR includes Mexico which is where our southern land border is.





Aren't you the guy who used to know something? Methinks not.