PP&O Testifies to HASC Subcommittee on Readiness

The House Armed Services Subcommittee on readiness met with senior leaders of the military to discuss amphibious warfare readiness and training Dec. 1,
2017 in Washington.

Lt. Gen. Brian D. Beaudreault, Deputy Commandant for Plans, Policies, and
Operations, U.S. Marine Corps, Vice Adm. Andrew L. Lewis Deputy Chief of
Naval Operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy (N3/N5), United States
Navy and Mr. Cary Russell Director, Defense Capabilities and Management
Team, U.S Government Accountability Office (GAO) all testified on the state
of readiness for the Navy and Marine Corps.

One of the items that have affected readiness is the continuing resolution.
Representative Joe Wilson, who chairs the committee, made it clear that the
committee is interested in doing whatever they can do end the continuing
resolution.

"So we find our maritime superiority edge narrowing through the continuing resolutions
that is not allowing us to stay on glide path for readiness recovery and
maintain a superiority on the sea," said Lt. Gen. Beaudreault.

Earlier this year, Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Robert Neller, addressed
readiness concerns in his Seize the Initiative 2017 message to all Marines

"We must improve our overall readiness," Neller said in his message.
"We continue to accelerate our purchases of new systems while maintaining
current equipment. Right now, our 'ready bench' is not as deep as we need it
to be for crises and contingencies."

Wilson asked Beaudreault what elements in the Marine Corps suffer the most
from atrophy, to which he responded with, "Our ability to train at higher
echelons above the MEU and Amphibious Ready Group Unit. Our forcible entry
ability core competency of the Marine Corps and Navy team here is at risk
above the MEU level. Simply we can do some training, through the command
elements through virtual systems, but at some point you have to put the
ships to sea and go through a mission rehearsal, and the ability to generate
the number of ships required to train at a Marine Expeditionary Brigade
level, just simply isn't there."

Lewis pointed out that even though there are some shortcomings with
readiness, the Navy and Marine Corps are still operating to the best of
their ability around the world.

"The Navy and Marine Corps team is forward deployed and standing the watch.
Today, Sailors and Marines are at sea aboard the AMERICA ARG and 15 MEU in
Central Command, USS ESSEX in the Pacific and IWO JIMA ARG and 26 MEU in the
Atlantic," said Lewis. "We are on the tip of the spear and working every day
to sharpen it."

Chairman Wilson concluded the hearing by stating that the committee is in
favor in doing what they can to end the continuing resolution and have an
actual budget in order to provide the Navy and Marine Corps with the
resources they need to maintain a high state in readiness to continue to
protect the nation.

A U.S. Amphibious Assault Vehicle is guided onshore during exercise Bold Alligator 17 at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Oct. 25, 2017. Bold Alligator 17 is a multinational, naval amphibious exercise that focuses on combined training of multiple forces executing complex shaping, amphibious, and sea basing operations to improve U.S. and coalition ship-to-shore capabilities. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Abrey D. Liggins)