RE: Are the Marines Really Needed?
To be fair to the marines ( Weird I know coming from an Anarchist ) they are often deployed on the front lines with standard infantry even if it may not be an amphibious operation, so they aren't necessarily a complete waste as they fight alongside the regular army.
I do agree that training like this at the moment is pretty obsolete though, the only time we could possibly need an amphibious assault is if simply they needed a coast assaulting and they were up against a conventional army. Realistically, the west isn't up against either of those things and America generally isn't either, Russia in particular does not want a war with any of us so that rules them out, the closest we might get is if Iran tries to get involved with the middle east but because of their ties to China that probably won't happen directly.
Thankfully as well, we don't have what I think is a cold war fanatic like Hillary Clinton in office right now and Trump wants to make peace with the other nuclear powers rather than piss them off so things could end up calming down now after he takes office.
So... How do we go about this; we expand the Marine Corps and justify that expense by building a water canal through the Middle East so we can conduct amphibious operations against Iran?
I mean would that work, let me grab a map; of course the question is will this canal be built by the Army Corp of Engineers for the Marine Corp and would the Air Force provide aerial superiority to ensure the safety of personnel building this canal ?
Could this entire thing be done cheaper by civilian contractors rather than the military and would these private companies have senior diplomats and public "servants" as their 'owners' or on their "Board of Directors"?
This could actually generate a lot of jobs and profit, if planned and organised properly; this could indeed " Save America . . .
... Where the heck is my map of the Middle East; where did I put that damn thing ! ! ! When did I last use it ? ? ? . . .