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What every Marine needs to know for 2009

For the nation and the Marine Corps alike, 2009 will be a year of transition. A new commander in chief. A likely drawdown of troops in Iraq, and an expected increase in Afghanistan. A slowing of the service’s rapid expansion to 202,000 active-duty Marines.

The changes will affect Marines for years to come. There will be new gear for a different fight, a shift in who qualifies for bonuses, and an overall balancing of the ranks as the Corps seeks thousands more company-grade officers to complete the expansion to 202K.

Here’s a forecast for the year ahead.

1. Afghanistan comes into focus

About 3,000 Marines are now in Afghanistan, conducting everything from training exercises with Afghan soldiers and police to firefights with insurgents in remote locations. Soon, they may have company.

U.S. forces in Afghanistan could double in 2009, according to Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said Dec. 20 that 60,000 U.S. troops could be there within the coming months.

The Pentagon hasn’t made it clear which services will provide the additional troops, but Marine officials continue to push to have the Corps included, so long as Marines are first withdrawn from Iraq.

“We are prepared to take the fight straight to the enemy in Afghanistan if we’re asked to,” Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent, the Corps’ top enlisted Marine, said in an e-mail.

Already, there are signs the Corps is getting ready for a major push there. In recent weeks, the service asked defense industry members to design new cold-weather gear suited for mountain warfare. The list includes new gloves and the Inclement Weather Combat Shirt, a flame-resistant garment eyed for use under the Scalable Plate Carrier body armor vest commonly used in Afghanistan, an industry official said.

The Corps also plans to revise its predeployment training, putting greater focus on building warfare capabilities needed in Afghanistan. Commandant Gen. James Conway wants to develop small-unit skills and conduct exercises in environments more akin to its high-altitude, mountainous terrain.

He is expected to sign off on a plan that will boost business at two California training centers: The desert warfare training base at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, and the Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport.

2. 202K evolves

The Corps is nearing its goal of growing to 202,000 active-duty Marines, but it still needs thousands more company-grade officers to lead junior enlisted troops.

For enlisted Marines, that means dozens of military occupational specialties will be closed to re-enlistment in 2009, even as the Corps continues to hand out up to $90,000 in bonuses to Marines who re-enlist in high-demand specialties such as intelligence, reconnaissance and explosive ordnance disposal.

On the other hand, officer accessions are expected to increase as space allows, with the Corps taking on a planned 2,050 officer candidates in fiscal 2009, Marine officials said. That’s in addition to the 1,900 who signed contracts in fiscal 2008.

To help recruit officers, the Corps will keep several incentives it launched in 2008, including a loan-repayment program worth up to $30,000 for outstanding college bills, and the Officer Accession Incentive, which pays some new lieutenants $4,000 if they agree to remain on duty an extra six months.

This year, the Corps also will roll out several new recruiting programs, including a drastically expanded Web site for potential officers, www.marineofficer.com.

3. New rides all around

The Corps will use new vehicles for air, ground and sea transportation in 2009.

On the aviation front, Lockheed Martin is poised to conduct the F-35 Lighting II program’s first test flight in vertical flight mode. The short-takeoff vertical-landing, or STOVL, aircraft is designed to provide the Corps with a stealth aircraft that can operate from austere combat environments.

Lockheed Martin said preliminary engine tests are slated to begin in early 2009 at its Texas facility before officials move toward testing the aircraft’s vertical capabilities. A vertical landing is expected by May or June, officials said.

Meanwhile, from 300 to 500 people from Lockheed Martin and the military are expected to converge on Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., to establish the framework for F-35B and C model test flights. Four F-35B Lighting II aircraft will be based at Pax River by the end of year. The A model will be used by the Air Force, while the Corps will field the STOVL-equipped B model. The C model is designed to be launched from aircraft carriers and will be used by the Navy.

Also this coming year, the first MV-22 Osprey squadron to serve in Iraq will become the first to deploy with a Marine Expeditionary Unit. Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 (reinforced) will send 10 Ospreys along with the 22nd MEU aboard the amphibious assault ship Bataan, MEU spokesman Capt. Clark D. Carpenter said. It is expected to travel through the Mediterranean Sea and Suez Canal.

The new amphibious assault ship Makin Island is scheduled to be commissioned in October, and Marines also could see the first Internally Transportable Vehicles in the field at some point this year. ITVs look like Jeeps and are the only vehicle approved to fly inside the Osprey. One variation of ITV, the Expeditionary Fire Support System, includes a trailer with an attached 120mm mortar. It is eyed for use in Afghanistan.

4. New rules for rifle quals

In 2009, all Marines who have to requalify on Tables 1A and 2 at the rifle range will use the Rifle Combat Optic — that is, if their commands have fielded the aiming device. The Corps is still in the process of buying and distributing the optics, which are supposed to improve Marines’ aim and targeting. Units about to deploy will receive them first; those that don’t get them right away will re-qual the old-fashioned way: with iron sights.

All aggregate scores will count equally whether a Marine shoots with the optic attached to his rifle or not.

5. Corps-wide construction

With an infusion of billions of dollars for military construction, the skylines of many bases and air stations will continue to change. This year, the Corps will receive $700 million for new ranges, fitness centers and armories among other projects.

The biggest bucks will fund two major programs: The Bachelor Enlisted Quarters Initiative and the “Grow the Force” initiative. All told, the Corps plans to build new barracks, comprising 12,370 beds, everywhere from the recruit depots to Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Under BEQ, the Corps will replace aging buildings with new complexes that include recreation areas, computer and game rooms and large laundry rooms.

Congress is giving the Corps another $1.4 billion to support the 202K plan. The money will pay for new family homes, barracks, offices, work spaces and warehouses to accommodate additional units and personnel.

6. Running suit rollout

Thousands of recruiters, drill instructors and recruits received the Corps’ new green running suit in 2008 — but distribution isn’t finished yet. Manufacturer New Balance struggled to meet the order for one free suit for every Marine, Kent said.

The new design, which includes the word “Marines” emblazoned on the back in bold red letters with gold trim, was unveiled in November 2007. The suit, which will cost $113, features reflective tape and moisture-wicking material. It can be worn on liberty in the hope people will ask Marines questions about the service.

7. More CFT changes

The new year will mean continued maturation for the Combat Fitness Test, which will evolve from pass/fail to a 300-point, three-tiered grading system like the physical fitness test.

“One of the predominant pieces of feedback we got back was that Marines ... wanted to know what the very, very best score was to beat,” said Reserve Col. Brian McGuire, who helped develop the test.

For Marines preparing to take the CFT next year, the Corps intends to release several exercise videos and combat-conditioning tutorials through its distance education program, MarineNet, McGuire said.

8. More MarSOC jobs

Although Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command has grown steadily since its inception three years ago, it is still a few hundred Marines shy of its 2,600-man goal. The command includes two battalions — 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion on the West Coast and 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion on the East Coast — both consisting of Special Operations companies and Marine Special Operations Adviser Groups. However, in true special operations fashion, MarSOC has said very little about its selection process, which includes a two-week screening that tests a Marine’s body and mind. For more information on joining, contact a recruiter at www.marsoc.usmc.mil/recruiting.html.

9. New training for Reserve

Marine Corps Forces Reserve will be offering more simulated training in 2009.

Construction is underway on a state-of-the-art virtual combat training facility at Camp Upshur aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. The facility will include 10 simulation training systems, some of which are built specifically for squad-sized unit training. All simulators are expected to be operational in July.

This spring, MarForRes also plans to replace its Virtual Combat Convoy Trainer at Twentynine Palms’ Camp Wilson with the latest fourth-generation model, which will accommodate up to 50 Marines simultaneously, MarForRes spokesman Capt. Nathan Braden said.

10. Pay-and-bennies recession

A decade of enhancements in military pay and benefits could come to an end in 2009. As a sagging national economy cuts U.S. tax revenues — and indirectly leads more people to consider joining the military as fewer people rush to get out — big benefits increases are a tougher sell in Congress.

That could include what has become an eight-year tradition of setting the annual military pay raise ahead of private-sector wage growth. The 3.9 percent basic pay raise for 2009, which the Military Officers Association of America calculates leaves a remaining pay gap of 2.9 percent, could be the last gasp for military raises that outpace the private sector. Congress may well settle for military raises that keep pace with, but do not top, private-sector wage growth.

11. Post-9/11 GI Bill

One of the biggest advances in veterans’ benefits since World War II takes effect on Aug. 1, when the flat-rate GI Bill transforms into a plan that pays tuition plus stipends for housing and books for most students.

Making the plan even more attractive is the possibility that career service members with at least 10 years of service could be allowed to transfer their unused benefits to their immediate family. That makes the new benefit a big reward for active-duty and reserve members.

The new GI Bill, for people who have served 30 days or longer on active duty since Sept. 11, 2001, will provide tuition payments directly to the school that are up to the cost of the most expensive four-year public college or university in the state where the veteran is matriculating.

12. Household goods overhaul

Scheduled to move in ’09? Getting your gear from Point A to Point B should be a lot easier than it was in the past.

Defense officials expect to take the new Defense Personal Property Program global in early February. One big change affecting service members and defense civilians: The program automatically will assign the best-qualified moving company available at that time, replacing a system based on low bids. It also features direct communication between service members and moving companies, electronic claims filing and online tracking.

Perhaps most significantly, it gives full replacement value when household goods are lost or damaged.

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Staff writers Gidget Fuentes, Karen Jowers, Dan Lamothe, Rick Maze, Bryan Mitchell and Trista Talton contributed to this report.