Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2003 3:17 PM

To: DEFENSE-PRESS-SERVICE-L@DTIC.MIL

Subject: Top Marine: Transformation More Than Basic Modernization

By Kathleen T. Rhem

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON,  Jan. 9, 2003  -  America's  top  Marine  general  believes  there should be "a distinction between transformation and basic modernization."

Gen.  James Jones,  who will relinquish  the job of  Commandant of the  Marine Corps Jan. 13  to assume  the title supreme  allied commander - Europe,  said he thinks  the word  "transformation"  should be reserved for things that are,  well, transformational.

"For me, transformation means being able to do something that you couldn't do before,  or by some tremendous overhaul of the things  that you already are able to do,  you are able  to do them  exponentially better  --  and I don't mean just a little better,  I mean exponentially better,"  Jones said during  a luncheon at  the National Press Club here.

Jones cited  the advent of using the  Global Positioning System as a navigational aid as an example of a transformational advance.

Another is the use of B-52 bombers to drop precision-guided weapons.  "I stood on  the ground  in  South Vietnam  during  Arc  Lights (B-52 bombing  missions during the Vietnam conflict),  and I can tell you that even though I wasn't in the path of  that armament,  I was certainly  impressed by  the fact  that three  miles away the ground was shaking," Jones said. "And those same B-52s now,  instead of  carpet bombing,  can deliver very precise ammunition on  a very well-defined target and achieve success."

The  Marines  are  undergoing  a  transformational  shift  in  emphasis  on  using tilt-rotor aircraft.  Critics have assailed the Marines' current tilt-rotor prototype, the  V- 22 Osprey,  as unsafe and too expensive.  Jones is a strong  proponent of the program.

"... The power of tilt-rotor technology is so transformational that  it can actually affect the way  the soldier,  sailor, airman and Marines ... go to battle and do the important things that they need to do," he said.   Transformation isn't limited to technology.  "Arguably,  the most transformational thing that has taken place in the  armed  forces of  the  United States  in  the last  50 years is  the all-volunteer force," Jones said.

Another   "paradigm  shift"  is  the  understanding   that  each   military  service "cannot go it alone."  The  U.S.  military routinely  relies on  joint and coalition forces  to  accomplish  missions.  Jones said he thinks  this shift  in thinking  will extend  even further  in  the  21st  century  to  stronger  interagency  cooperation brought about by homeland security needs.

The  Marine  general  gave  a  clear  example  of  how  the security of  the United States is no longer simply a Defense Department concern. When forces deployed to the 1991 Gulf War, they did so "without too much concern about the security of our bases and stations at home."

Now,  Jones said,  service chiefs can't  deploy large  numbers of forces  "without thinking very  consciously about  the security of our bases and  stations and  our military installation in ways that we didn't have to 12 years ago."

The nation's leaders have to concern themselves with defending the homeland as well  as achieving  goals overseas.   Homeland security  concerns are  forcing the Defense Department to work closely  with domestic agencies they haven't  had to work with at all in the past.

The nation's leaders have to concern themselves with defending the homeland as well as  achieving goals  overseas.   Homeland security  concerns are  forcing the Defense Department  to work closely with domestic agencies  they haven't had to work with at all in the past.

Other  transformational  shifts are  the  significantly smaller  size of  the military today  compared to  larger  forces in the past and  the smaller percentage of  the gross national  product spent on defense.   Jones noted that at  the height of  the Cold War,  defense spending  garnered double-digit  percentages of  the national budget. Recently it has been below 3 percent; now it is between 3.5 percent and 4 percent.  The general  said  he  believes  this shift  has been  in line  with  shifting national priorities, and that the current level is just about right.

"I don't for a minute believe it should ever get up to 9, 10 or 11 percent, because the force  sizing is not there,"  Jones said.  But he doesn't  think it  should  drop from current levels either.

He believes earlier levels were too low and bad for the country.  "We paid a very real  price  in real  terms for  that mistake  ...  of not understanding  that  proper investment  in national  security issues  is fundamentally  important and,  in  my opinion, even more important in this new 21st century, which is characterized by so  much instability,  so much disorder,  and so much  cultural animosity on  the face of the earth -- and whatever that might lead to," Jones said.

Recent changes  in military doctrine  are transformational in  their scope.  Jones related  how Marines are working to  take some of  the burden off special opera- tions  forces  in  training  foreign militaries  in  the  Philippines  and  the  former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Defense  Secretary Donald Rumsfeld  announced this  shift in  special operations priorities  during a Jan. 7  Pentagon briefing.  Rumsfeld  said special  operations troops  will  have  a greater  role and  expanded  responsibilities  in  the  war  on terrorism.  He noted that U.S. Special Operation Command will be  "divested of various missions,  such as routine military training and civil support, that can be successfully accomplished by other forces."

"We are happy ... Marines and sailors are able to back-fill and take up  this very important mission in pursuit of our national objectives," Jones said.

Just days  before he  hands  the reins  of  the Marine Corps  to Gen. Michael W. Hagee,  Jones reflected on how much  the position has  meant to him.  "For  the last three  and a half years,  I have been truly blessed ... to be entrusted with  the custody of the United States Marine Corps," he said.

Jones  expressed  "absolute  confidence  that ... the  United  States  Marines  will continue to make a great difference wherever they go."

Submitted by,
          Richard C. Keckler, former Captain, USMCR