[Non-Sequitur]

Did you miss the part where the Commandant of the Marines says that even their VMF and VMA squadrons can get weathered in?

And when has such a situation impacted the marines in the current conflict?

They aren't just the big guns...they serve as TLAM launch platforms as well.

So do aircraft, submarines, cruisers, and destroyers.

They could be a launch site for Predator and other Armed UAV's.

So could aircraft carriers, LHAs, LPAs, LPDs, LSDs, etc.

The guns on a Battle Wagon have never just supported Navy and Marine assets.

Yet the marines are the only ones pushing for them.

[lentulusgracchus]

And when has such a situation impacted the marines in the current conflict?

During the big sandstorm at the beginning of April, 2003, when everything turned orange and ops ground to a halt.

[txradioguy]

"Yet the marines are the only ones pushing for them."

Because the Marines are the ones that NEED them.

Not to mention it would relieve the strain on the Army FA battalions in and elsewhere.