Marine Corps leader comfortable with troop levels

The Marine Corps' top officer said Monday that he is comfortable with the size of his force, but acknowledged that the Pentagon is reviewing troop levels as part of an ongoing review of defense capabilities, strategies and plans.

With 176,000 troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, Congress has increased the size of both the Army and Marine Corps in recent years, despite concerns voiced by Pentagon brass about the hefty price tag that comes with growing ground forces.

During a speech at the National Press Club, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee said that the 180,000 Marines now in the force are "just about right" to meet operational demands.

However, the military is still reviewing force levels, as well as the mixture of troop specialties and equipment, as central pieces to the sweeping Quadrennial Defense Review, Hagee said.

The so-called QDR, due on Capitol Hill in February, is intended to set both short- and long-term Defense Department goals and guide military planning and spending for the next several years.

Hagee said defense officials are working diligently to devise well-founded projections, but added that planning always has a certain amount of uncertainty. For instance, the Pentagon completed its last QDR in the fall of 2001, but many of its conclusions were made irrelevant by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which led to major changes to military plans.

"Probably my biggest concern about the QDR is that we get it pretty close to right, or at least we don't get it wrong," he said.

Hagee also addressed the increased strain on Marine Corps equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan, warning that additional money will be needed to pay for repairs and major overhauls.

The equipment, he said, is holding up better than initially thought but "supplementals will be absolutely critical."

In addition, Hagee said the growing threat and increased sophistication of improvised explosive devices in Iraq pose the biggest challenge to his force. The military is reviewing a wide range of technological options and training changes to combat the threat.

"I think we should probably erase the word 'improvised,'" Hagee said. "Some of the devices that we're faced with now are not very improvised."