Col. Victor Pastor, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3/5, 4th Marine Division, discusses force design and establishing a crisis response force Dec. 15, 2021, at Marine Corps Support Facility New Orleans. II MEF and MARFORRES are the Marine Corps’ service-retained forces administratively and operationally controlled by the Marine Corps instead of a combatant command, such as most Marines stationed in California and Japan who are aligned to support U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The importance of these operational planning teams is to establish the process needed to create an effective service-retained crisis response force to respond to global threats outside of USINDOPACOM area of responsibility. MARFORRES and II MEF are the Marine Corps’ service-retained forces, which means they are administratively and operationally controlled by the Marine Corps. - Col. Victor Pastor, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3/5, 4th Marine Division, discusses force design and establishing a crisis response force Dec. 15, 2021, at Marine Corps Support Facility New Orleans. II MEF and MARFORRES are the Marine Corps’ service-retained forces administratively and operationally controlled by the Marine Corps instead of a combatant command, such as most Marines stationed in California and Japan who are aligned to support U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The importance of these operational planning teams is to establish the process needed to create an effective service-retained crisis response force to respond to global threats outside of USINDOPACOM area of responsibility. MARFORRES and II MEF are the Marine Corps’ service-retained forces, which means they are administratively and operationally controlled by the Marine Corps.
2/19/2026 - https://defensescoop.com/2026/02/17/marine-corps-medium-range-tactical-drone-suas/
2/17/2026 - https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2026/2/13/every-marine-a-rifleman-and-now-a-drone-operator
2/13/2026 - https://news.usni.org/2026/02/11/marines-on-target-to-meet-recruiting-retention-goals
2/10/2026 - https://www.businessinsider.com/marines-still-the-only-military-service-with-clean-books-2026-2
2/06/2026 - https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/navy-news/2026/u-s-marines-conduct-night-amphibious-assaults-using-sea-launched-armored-vehicles