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WAR IN THE MODERN WORLD

The Space Force

President Trump, who was elected to "drain the swamp," is sometimes inclined to muddy it further, most recently by proposing a US Space Force to handle warfare beyond the earth's atmosphere. This is usually presented as a sixth military service, to go along with the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and -- and what, I wonder?

No doubt Mr Trump is thinking of the Marine Corps, but that is actually part of the Navy. (Its commandant, although a member of the Chiefs of Staff, reports directly to the Chief of Naval Operations.) And the Coast Guard, perhaps? In peacetime the Coasties belong to the Homeland Security department, and in war, if mobilized, they become part of the Navy; but never are they a military service in their own right.... Or the National Guard? Or the Reserve? Again, if they fight, they fight as one of the three existing military services.

Three is plenty! Let the Air Force handle space warfare, just as the Navy handles submarine warfare.

The Marine Rifle Squad

Speaking of the US Marines, it has undergone an earth-shaking change, not at the top as Mr Trump proposes, but at the bottom. In May, the Commandant added two men (no women as yet, I'm pretty sure) to the 13-man Marine rifle squad: an assistant squad leader and a "squad systems operator" to handle the flow of information now available to warfighters.

Since overseeing 15 men would task the abilities of even a US Marine sergeant, a man will be dropped from each of the squad's four-man fire teams, resulting in a 12-man squad that is closer to what prevails in most armies. And in the Marines, of course, everyone is a rifleman, so the reduction in firepower is not as great as it seems. Blue skies! — Dan Ford

The essays (in more or less chronological order)