Marines: we are multitaskers.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Defense Insider

* The Marine Corps over the past decade has devoted most of its training and combat resources to counterinsurgency warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan. But as ' the U.S. military gradually withdraws from both war zones, Marine Corps leaders worry that their 202,000-strong force may be seen as an expendable luxury, particularly when the nation faces crushing budget deficits.

The commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Amos, recently assigned a group of officers to help define the Corps' future missions. The goal is to convince the nation's policy makers that marines can do more than ground combat and counterinsurgencies.

The "amphibious capabilities working group," a small think-tank within the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, has a December deadline to put together a vision for flow the Marine cog will fit into the national security machine over the...