Reference no: EM133660349

Question

After more than a decade of counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, what is the future role of the Marine Corps in irregular warfare? From 2001 to 2021 the Marine Corps has been heavily involved in Iraq and Afghanistan facing enemies and tactics that we were not used to. In my opinion, the closest we have gotten to this kind of combat was Vietnam but that was 36 years prior to the start of Iraq so even still there were different tactics being used. The Marine Corps has shown what it meant by "adapt and overcome" when faced with the new threat. Our Humvees were found to be ineffective with the enemy's use of improvised explosive devices (IED), so we adapted and created the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles. With this we can still effectively transport troops and reduce the risk of an IED incapacitating a vehicle. Our enemies were fond of ambushes so with the technology at hand, we created the Raven drone for Marines to gather intelligence about their surrounding area without drawing attention to themselves. The Marine Corps has also shown that it can easily incorporate any new technology while staying true to their roots by still being extremely effective riflemen and staying committed to the mission in the face of adversity. This is important because if we look at the Ukraine and Russia war, it seems that traditional warfare is a thing of the past. These two countries are fighting each other and still are using irregular warfare techniques. With this example, it is very likely that the next country that we fight will also use irregular warfare techniques. I believe that the Marine Corps will play a major role any future irregular warfare that happens because we have more than proven our flexibility and our ability to adapt and overcome any adversity that we face.