Quote:
Originally Posted by Imp
I am going to throw an oddball question at you Suhiir if I may.
If the army was called on to support the Marine Core with tanks would they actually be able to use them in the role the Marines wanted. I am guessing the armies tactics are not the same when it comes to armour.
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There's a major difference in the role each views tanks filling.
The US Army sees them as primarily an anti-armor asset the USMC as infantry support. Both of course use them for each role, but it's a matter of how well trained they are for each.
Can they do it? Of course. Can they do it well? Doubtful.
Also I don't see the US Army willingly handing over a tank unit. They already have formation/task assignments in the US Army and I know I'd be VERY reluctant to retask them were I Army brass.
Also there's the "minor" fact that US Army and USMC SOPs are different. I've worked with the US Army enough to know that I don't understand, or agree with, many of theirs and I'm sure they feel the same. The main issue is fire doctrine. The US Army uses fire volume, the USMC accuracy. The USMC doesn't have the logistic assets to support the amounts of ammo the US Army uses. Most US Army troops have never worked with (or probably seen) Marines and have no idea what our SOPs for "little" things like tank-infantry cooperation and communications are. In the US Army infantry supports armor, the armor commander is in charge, in the USMC the infantry commander is always in charge.
During Gulf 1 I was with the division HQ of 2nd MarDiv which had "Tiger Brigade" (2nd Div US Army) attached to it and they operated as an independent command, because it made far more sense then trying to integrate them. They were given a task, flank security, they did it well. But they did it their way, in their sector, and other then our HQ talking to their HQ we had little to do with each other. I did find it amusing after the "war" when they came over looking for 2nd MarDiv unit patches to sew on their uniforms as the last unit they were in combat with and we had to inform they we didn't have, or make, them (a USMC 2nd MarDiv patch exists, it's official, but you have to buy it from civilian sources).