Why does the United States need an updated, combined arms, global, crisis response force of Marines? The headline of an article in today's Washington Post gives the answer, "U.S. Scrambles To Respond To Unexpected Collapse." The crisis today is in Syria. The crisis next week or next month will be somewhere else. About the immediate crisis in Syria, the Washington Post reports, ". . . Syria was not on anyone’s list of likely crises."

The future brings unexpected crises; it always has, it always will. That is why the US needs its 9-1-1, rapid response force of Marines. Today, the US needs Marines in the Eastern Mediterranean onboard amphibious ships providing a calming force that can deter, assist, and fight.

Where are the Marines?

Unfortunately, the USNI News is reporting that the Marines that were most recently in the Med are no longer there: "The Wasp Amphibious Ready Group ended a seven-month deployment to the Baltic and Mediterranean seas on Friday, as the flat top pulled into Naval Station Norfolk." The Wasp Amphibious Ready Group and Marine Expeditionary Unit (ARG-MEU) consisted of USS Wasp (LHD 1), USS New York (LPD 21), and USS Oak Hill (LSD 51) as well as the special operations-capable 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

With the Wasp ARG-MEU now back in Norfolk, what Marines are in the Eastern Med prepared to help with the crisis in Syria? The sad answer is there are zero Marine Expeditionary Units in the Eastern Med today and none arriving soon.