Marine Corps may need to expand

WASHINGTON – The Marine Corps may need to increase in size to sustain deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan without sacrificing needed training or putting undue stress on the corps, the new Marine commandant said Wednesday.

At a meeting with reporters, Gen. James Conway also warned that it could take years to adequately train and equip the Iraqi security forces – longer, perhaps, “than the timeline that we probably feel … our country will support.”

Conway said the current pace of Marine rotations to Iraq – seven months there and seven-to-nine months at home – is limiting other types of training that units can receive and could eventually prompt Marines to leave the service.

“There is stress on the individual Marines that is increasing, and there is stress on the institution to do what we are required to do, pretty much by law, for the nation,” said Conway.

The goal, he said, is for units to spend twice the amount of time at home as is spent on deployment.

At the same time, Conway would not rule out extending the Iraq tours for some Marine units if needed for a short period of time.

Conway, who took on the Marines’ top job just eight days ago, said there are two ways to deal with the ongoing stress on the Marines: “One is reducing the requirement, the other is potentially growing the force for what we call the long war.”

There are currently about 180,000 active duty Marines. Conway said that if a decision is made to increase the number of Marines in Iraq – currently about 23,000 of the 141,000 U.S. troops there – he has enough around the globe to respond. But he warned that there could be long-term repercussions.