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FoxtrotOscar
01-03-18, 12:39 PM
32181 Marine Corps to Cut Infantry Assaultman Job to Resource Other Roles

The Marine Corps (https://www.military.com/marine-corps) is doing away with its 0351 infantry assaultman military occupational specialty and phasing out the assault section of Marine rifle companies in an effort to build up communities such as cyber and electronic warfare, Military.com has learned.

Commandant Gen. Robert Neller, who confirmed planning in December while on an annual tour of deployed (http://www.military.com/spouse/military-deployment) Marine elements around the world, said he expects the move to happen in the next three to five years as part of a slate of changes designed to help the Corps prepare for future fights.

The 0351 infantry assaultman, one of the Marine Corps' five core infantry positions, is tasked with breaching, demolition, and rocket fire against fortified positions.

Assaultmen carry the MK-153 shoulder-launched multipurpose assault weapon, or SMAW.

But Neller said he's making changes that will ensure those roles are filled by other members of a rifle company.

Each future rifle company will have an element of combat engineers aligned with it to take on breaching and demolition duties. The engineers will carry the SMAW, but they may not be the only ones.

"Can you shoot a SMAW?" Neller asked a Marine infantryman during a brief visit to elements of the Corps' crisis response task force for Africa in Moron, Spain.

The Marine responded that he could not.

"Yes, you can," Neller shot back. "I could teach you in five seconds."

Neller also confirmed that the Marine Corps plans to replace the SMAW (https://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/11/07/marines-eye-carl-gustaf-replace-smaw-bunker-breaching.html) in its breaching mission with the Carl Gustaf 84mm recoilless rifle, a possibility first reported exclusively by Military.com in November. That move will likely take place in the next four years.

"It's a little more sporty [than the SMAW], but it has 10 different kinds of ammunition," Neller said. " ... Do I like the SMAW? Yes, I do. But we had to give up something to get something else."

In an interview with Military.com, Neller explained that the plan to end the 0351 MOS and the assault section is a numbers game.

Marine Corps leaders made clear in early 2017 that they wanted a significant increase in end strength: 12,000 additional troops to resource fields such as cyber, information operations, and counter-drone efforts.

The service would add 3,000 Marines in 2017 and now expects an additional 1,000, thanks to the recently signed 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. But in the absence of a major plus-up, planners are looking for trade-offs.

"We had to create some trades to buy other Marines to do other things," Neller said.

At seven Marines in a company assault section, three companies in a battalion, and 24 battalions in the Marine Corps, the move will leave more than 500 spots available in the service to fill other jobs.

In addition to cyber, Neller said he's looking to build up intelligence analysis, air defense, and maintenance for ground vehicles and aviation.

It makes sense to cut the infantry assaultman MOS in part because it contains Marines of more junior ranks -- private to sergeant -- and its training overlaps with that of the other infantry MOSs, he said.

"The curriculum for 0311 [rifleman], 0331 [machine gunner], 0341 [mortarman], 0351 -- the first 28 days is exactly the same," Neller said. "So I don't think those Marines would have a whole lot of difficulty transitioning to another MOS."

Assaultmen who re-enlist have to transition to MOS 0369, platoon sergeant, anyway, he added.

If the Marine Corps eventually does get the larger plus-up it's after, Neller said, it could always bring the assault section back. Unlike more technologically sophisticated jobs such as cyber and electronic warfare that measure professional training in years, new assaultmen take a few months to train.

"It's part of the calculus on anything you do, is how hard is it to bring it back if you cadre it," Neller said.

"It is kind of the oddball of the infantry; no one really knows what we do or how to properly employ us," he wrote in 2010. "As a result, we are often just turned into a rifle squad or divided to be machine gunners."

USMC 2571
01-03-18, 12:42 PM
Change for the sake of change. But as society goes, so goes the Corps, eventually; never leaving anything alone for very long.

Mongoose
01-03-18, 03:46 PM
Not sure how this will be helpful. It would be very interesting to see just how a war between the U.S. and Russia would be fought and where it would be fought.

Tennessee Top
01-03-18, 08:35 PM
The CMC talks about the need for more cyber warriors every chance he gets. It's clear cyber is one of his highest priorities (just like it's our enemy's). Not surprising he's willing to pull bodies from other MOS's to add to the cyber community - if that's what needs to be done.

Mongoose
01-04-18, 07:05 AM
Thing is.....we have said we could and tried to win wars, without the use of Infantry. But, so far we have never accomplished this. I'm all for anything that will save American Military lives, but, I doubt we are at the point where old reliable should be shet canned.

FistFu68
01-05-18, 10:18 AM
F**K IT make Em 0311’s if they can hack it,most rifleman where doing All that chit anyway from blowing it too shooting it Dead

m14ed
01-05-18, 03:37 PM
Today, 11:18 AM #6 (http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?124434-Marine-Corps-to-Cut-Infantry-Assaultman-Job-to-Resource-Other-Roles&p=1031415&viewfull=1#post1031415)
FistFu68 (http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/member.php?26050-FistFu68)

F**K IT make Em 0311’s if they can hack it,most rifleman where doing All that chit anyway from blowing it too shooting it Dead

**So true brother Jack-
the suck will change a name
but the job still gets done .

Example = ShoreParty
long gone name BUT the
red patches still exist doing
the same jobs and functions-
But the *Mystery* is understanding
WhereTF in the "logistic $hitchute"
you begin to understand the mission

FistFu68
01-05-18, 03:48 PM
SF that Brother Ed :thumbup:

Mongoose
01-06-18, 07:40 AM
Jack.....they can put all kinds of fancy intimidating titles on a group of Marines......the true fact is....the Grunts are constantly searching for your sorry soul and will go to any means to kill your azz. The Infantry is the heart of the Corps and all other MOS's in the Corps....support the Infantry. Like it or not, it has been that way since day one.

Mongoose
01-08-18, 07:13 AM
32195Our future Grunts....

Hammer
01-08-18, 07:51 AM
Yep; Grunts are becoming a group of women.

Mongoose
01-11-18, 06:58 AM
32202I sure miss the good old days......just saying

Phantom Blooper
01-11-18, 02:54 PM
At seven Marines in a company assault section, three companies in a battalion, and 24 battalions in the Marine Corps, the move will leave more than 500 spots available in the service to fill other jobs.

Plenty of trash to pick up and rocks to paint....should keep 500 busy for awhile until the headshed sorts all this stupid shiat out.

advanced
01-12-18, 11:11 AM
F**K IT make Em 0311’s if they can hack it,most rifleman where doing All that chit anyway from blowing it too shooting it Dead
Ain't that the truth. Most folks, including other MOS Marines have no idea what it is like being an 0311. I was in a group of 8 other combat vets, mixed army and a couple of us Marines and mixed MOS's. When it was my time I explained that my job was to seek out the enemy and to then kill them in the best way that I could. Anyway, you should have seen all the audience squirming as I told my story. That's the difference.