MARINE AVIATION, Part 6
The Marine Corps has a large aviation component, with some 900 aircraft in the active force, most in three aircraft wings, and some 200 aircraft in the reserve force, assigned to a single aircraft wing.
All Marine aviators are trained by the Naval Air Training Command, a joint Navy---Marine Corps organization.
There is an increasing move to merge Navy and Marine Corps aviation on an operational basis. For example, most aircraft carriers are being provided with a Marine F/A-18 Hornet squadron, and a Navy F/A-18 squadron normally is forward deployed with Marine Aircraft Group 12 at Iwakuni, Japan.
The interchange of Navy---Marine F/A-18 squadrons is in part in compensation for the reduction in total Navy and Marine F/A-18 units from the current 64 to 59 within the next few years. Some analysts, however, question the efficacy of this interchange, as Navy and Marine aviation units have some different roles and missions, although their weapons and aircraft are similar. There are concerns that the Naval squadrons will not be able to practice carrier landings and completing air wing training.
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The reason that the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis.
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