I recall the USMC getting rid of all of their tanks, starting in 2021. The reasoning they gave was that it was a cost saving measure and the Marine tanks would be sent to Army tank units. My son was a USMC Reservist at the time, and he was a tanker. He had to switch to another MOS, which he despised btw, but it doesn’t matter because he was discharged for refusing the vax. I say all of this because it makes me wonder if some of these tanks have made their way to Ukraine or Eastern Europe? If so, that tells me the US and NATO planned to do whatever was necessary to provoke Putin, back him in a corner, and force his hand with muh Ukraine invasion. Here’s some stale sauce:
The Marines Got Rid of Their Tanks. Is Ukraine Making Them Look Smart, or Too Smart for Their Own Good?
By Ben Connable
March 28, 2022
Anyone watching video footage of the war in Ukraine has seen Ukrainian light infantry destroying lots of Russian tanks. In one video, a British NLAW—a cheap, single-shot, shoulder-launched rocket—darts out over the top of a tank, blasts a hole in its thin top armor, and sets it on fire. In another video, a Ukrainian drone follows a hapless Russian tank down a street before it, too, is destroyed by rockets, setting it on fire and sending a lone surviving crewman scrambling for cover. Video after video, photo after photo, shows almost every variant of Russian tank lying tracked and crippled on a highway, smoldering in a field of burnt grass, or decapitated, cast metal gun turret lying uselessly in the mud a few feet from its body.
Poor tank performance in Ukraine does not bode well for the armor-dependent Russians. It also may not bode well for the future of the tank as a tool of modern warfare. Marine Commandant David H. Berger sees the Ukraine war as vindication of his Force Design 2030. Last year, the Marine Corps got rid of the last of its active duty tank units and most of its traditional tube artillery as part of FD2030. This was Berger’s plan to reshape the Marine Corps primarily to fight a prospective long-range, high-tech, over-water war with China. Berger has taken—and is taking—plenty of barbs from within the senior ranks of the Marine Corps and from external critics for his new direction. Given what has happened to tanks in Ukraine, was Berger prescient?
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https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2022/03/28/the_marines_got_rid_of_their_tanks_is_ukraine_making_them_look_smart_or_too_smart_for_their_own_good_823985.amp.html