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The British Army, and one of the reasons that the Americans keep inviting them to the game, has Raiders and has Heavy forces but the strength of the force is the 20 or Infantry battalions that supply the depth of manpower need to sustain a Northern Ireland type of deployment and are exceptionally useful in the rest of the world doing the same type of job. They also contribute greatly to Kosovo, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Iraq and many other places in all phases of war.
Again, I'll disagree - the British Army has always maintained "specializations" or "niche capabilities" (not Niche Roles). Their Infantry would rotate through various "capability sets" such as Jungle, Mountain, Armoured Infantry (Warrior), Mechanized Infantry (Saxon), Airborne, etc, etc. As was mentioned on a thread on these boards, the Brits are moving away from rotation to a fixing "niche specialities" amongst units in the Army due to the problems associated with skills loss in constant reroling.
So we agree we disagree.
Look, my read of the Brits, with their new structure, means that they will have 7 Warrior Battalions, 2 Parachute Infantry Battalions and maybe 1 or 2 Air Assault Battalions. They might even dedicate some specialized medium battalions (6-9). That means 7 armoured infantry, 9-13 Light Infantry with a particular transport specialization and 12 to 16 other Light Infantry battalions. Any and all of those units will no doubt be involved in training for operations in different environments. But the base-line unit is still the Light Infantry unit for all but the Armoured Infantry.
So, sure the Brits would rotate a unit to a "general purpose" or "constabulary" role, especially for units rotating through North Ireland. But with our small resource base, this is not something I want to see us "niche capabilied" with, rather I'd focus on the two tasks (Light/Cav) which a far more relevent to combat capable forces.
But stability ops are precisely the ops that your combat capable forces are going to be deployed on. That means that like a USMC MEU (Special Operations Capable), fighting the proverbial 3-Block war, you are going to be required to work across the entire spectrum of conflict.
MEU Missions (per Clancy: Marine)
Assaults - amphibious, Raids (8 different kinds), Covert Reconnaissance and Surveillance, Specialized Demolitions, Fire Support Coordination, Guiding other units in, Military Operations in Urban Terrain, Security Operations (crowd control), Show of force, Non-Combatant Evacuation Operations, Humanitarian Relief Operations, Civil Support and Training.... and I may have missed a few. This Special Operations Capable force has such a wide range of Special Capabilities that it is Generally useful, regardless of the situation. These are concurrent capabilities of a USMC Light Infantry Battle Group (which gets around by whatever means are available - helos, trucks or armoured tracks. The skills are not lost, they are constantly practiced and confirmed prior to being designated SOC and allowed to deploy.
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Now here I will tread carefully and try not to upset BBJ over much. The Royal Marines are not Special. They don't have much in the way of Special kit. Their Commandos aren't manned, organized or equipped much different much different than any other British Infantry battalion. They take their turn in rotation in Northern Ireland and Iraq, Kurdistan and Bosnia. They operate in mountains and deserts and jungles just as much as on beaches. They are capable of mounting assaults just as well as holding ground or securing a country. And they can mount raids. They are not Special. They are Generalists. Generalists that retain particular skills in amphibious operations in addition to all their other capabilities.
However being Generalists does not mean they are inferior or even average.
They may be the best, no doubt BBJ would say are the best, Generalists, in the world. This is accomplished through selection and training and instilling confidence.
I will whole-heartedly disagree here. The Royal Marines are in no way "General Purpose" - they are specialized as a SOC capable, strategically deployable Light Force. As I've stressed many times, putting a RM Commando in Warriors and expecting them to do a Combat Team attack is foolhardy - they are "Bergen troops". They didn't do this in Iraq, it was left to Heavy Force units to fight with Challenger IIs and Warriors.
See the argument above relative to the USMC MEU SOC. Specialized skills that cover the entire range of operations that overlap with each other makes the RM and the USMC GENERALLY useful. It is precisely because they can do so many things so bloody well that they are so valuable to their governments and their allies.
The RM is a "niche capability", all-arms unit focused on Light Amphibious Ops. Their extremely rigorous "Commando Course" is demanding enough that, along with a Focus on Light Force capabilites (Commando 21 reflects this) and their intimate support of British Tier II and Tier I SOC units (the SAS, the SBS, and the 3 Cdo Bde Recce Troop) would qualify them as as a Tier III Special Operations Capable Unit (akin to US Army Rangers).
They are NOT a "niche capability". Mention any operation in any environment that the Brits have been in since World War 2 and the Marines have been in it. Falklands, Malaya, Palestine, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Iraq. Every job that any British Army infantry unit has done the Marines have done - including keeping the strife to a minimum in places like the Bogside by patrolling the streets.
You can't say that for the US Army Rangers. THEY have their niche, and they stick to it.
The Marines are Generalists, and as I said if not the best then definitely among the best. I will admit that they do indeed have a niche capability, and that capability defines them. It does not, however, restrict them.
The latest edition of the CMJ has good overview of SOC capabilities
http://www.journal.dnd.ca/engraph/home_e.asp
Clearly, stating that their "Generalists" is selling the RM short on what they can do and attributing to them things they can't do.
I do not sell them short. Nor do I expect them to launch an armoured assault - I would expect them to cooperate with armoured forces, as they just did in Basra to clear out the town.
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So when I am arguing for a Generalist infantry this is the notion that I am arguing for. Rather than create a Canadian Force based on Light raiding capability and a Light Cavalry force with little capability in the heart of your light/heavy envelope I am saying start from a force that is positioned right smack dab in the middle of the envelope and build its capabilities out from there as budget allows.
The RM sits squarely in the middle of the envelope - all singing, all dancing. It can do many tasks for the British Government on its own. It can operate in high intensity conflict with or without armour support (light or heavy). It can perform raids or it can act along with dedicated raiders like the Paras and with Special Forces.
Clearly, as the article by LtCol Wayne Eyre (which I linked to in the other Light Force thread) points out, there is a middle area where Light Force and Mech/Heavy Force capabilites can be complement eachother in the tactical or operational setting.
We all agree.
However, this doesn't mean that we should mix and match these two unique and seperate capabilites.
Maybe not mix and match, but having complementary capabilities that nest with each other in the middle zone will increase the combat power available over a larger range of applications.
As I argued above, the RM in no way sits on some middle ground - they, like other Light Forces (such as the US Rangers in Mogadishu)
They are not like US Rangers at all, as argued above.
Preciselycan use vehicles for a administrative purposes (to move soldier, kit, weapons systems, or supplies if possible) but they in no way rely on the vehicles as a vital factor for tactical employment.
The RM may not sit on the middle ground but they cover the field. And that is the true indication of their excellence. Not that they are capable of filling a niche role, but that as a Light conventional Force they can excel at so many tasks and still be specialists in their primary niche capability.
It is relatively easy to train an individual to perform a single task, you can even train some people to handle a number of tasks, but to excel widely, that is a gift.
I believe that the CF in general and the infantry in particular is capable of excelling widely.