Before I get started, I want to take a moment to thank the Marine Corps Association and the Marine Corps League for bringing us together and for delivering another outstanding Modern Day Marine.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. To the Members of Congress and Professional Staff Members here today: thank you. Your support makes everything we do possible, and we are deeply grateful for it. 

I should also share that the Secretary of the Navy sends his regards. He regrets not being here with us this morning—but he is exactly where we need him: In the Western Pacific, meeting with key leaders, our allies, and Marines and Sailors. 

The Marine Corps has long shared a close and trusted partnership with Congress—one built on shared commitment to the defense of our Nation and a mutual understanding of the responsibility we carry together. 

Your steadfast backing—through good times and hard choices alike—has ensured that Marines remain ready, forward, and capable of answering the call whenever and wherever our country needs us. 

In that same spirit, I want to use this time to speak clearly and candidly about the state of your Marine Corps—my priorities, what we’ve accomplished, and what we need from Congress to ensure we stay ready. 

One of the clearest demonstrations of American strength abroad remains the Amphibious Ready Group with its embarked Marine Expeditionary Unit. 

This is what makes the Navy-Marine Corps team the most agile and effective expeditionary force in the world—scalable, self-sustaining, and capable of responding across the full range of military operations. 

When these units are forward-deployed and on station, they provide credible and lethal options to our national leaders. They complicate adversary decision-making. They reassure allies. They provide an unmatched ability to maneuver and respond without relying on access or permissions. 

But we can’t employ what we don’t have ready.  

Decades of hard choices and shifting priorities have taken their toll on amphibious ship availability. Today, our amphibious readiness is well below what is required to meet the operational demand. 

Our North Star is clear: restoring what we call 3.0 ARG/MEU presence.  

That means three Amphibious Ready Groups, each with three ships and an embarked MEU, persistently deployed—one from the East Coast, one from the West Coast, and one from Okinawa. 

Meeting this requirement means sustaining a fleet of 31 amphibious ships at 80 percent readiness. Anything less, and we risk being caught short when the Nation calls. 

The recent multi-ship block buy of LHAs and LPDs was a positive step in the right direction—both for capacity and for cost savings to the taxpayer—but this effort will require continued focus from Congress, industry, and the Department of Defense. 

Restoring amphibious capacity is not nostalgia. It is making sure Marines are already forward—deterring, ready to respond, ready to act. 

But forward posture alone is not enough. Operating within a contested maritime domain poses unique challenges. The distances are vast, and the threat environment is unforgiving. We need the ability to move and sustain Marines and their equipment across dispersed locations while under threat. 

That’s why we are focused on closing the tactical mobility gap with the Medium Landing Ship, or LSM. Our approach to solving this challenge is phased. In the near term, we’re using platforms we can get our hands on—Stern Landing Vessels, LCUs, and Expeditionary Fast Transports—as a bridge to keep Marines mobile now. 

LSM Block I is the next step. It’s a non-developmental vessel—it exists right now—and is designed to operate inside the weapons engagement zone to sustain our stand-in forces where it matters most. We are cautiously optimistic we will begin bending steel on these within the next year. 

And beyond Block I, we are thinking about the long game. LSM-Next will evolve alongside the threat, using spiral development to ensure we stay ahead of adversary capabilities and maintain the initiative. 

This isn’t about adding capability for capability’s sake. This is about delivering the mobility required to fight and win in the littorals. The threat environment demands it. I am closely tracking the reconciliation process and its positive impacts toward restoring a 3.0 ARG/MEU presence and closing the mobility gap with the Medium Landing Ship.  

I understand this is a long and difficult process, but I appreciate your continued support and the serious attention this issue is receiving. The Marines we send forward must have the tools to prevail—not just today, but against the peer threats of tomorrow.  

That’s the focus of Force Design. 

Now in its sixth year, Force Design is well into implementation. Capabilities are being delivered across the Marine Air Ground Task Force, and formations are adapting to match the fight ahead. 

We’ve stood up two Marine Littoral Regiments—the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment in Hawaii and the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment in Okinawa—purpose-built for contested maritime terrain. Both are fielding the G/ATOR—our Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar for surveillance and targeting.  

3rd Marine Littoral Regiment has NMESIS—our Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System and 12th Marine Littoral Regiment will receive in the near future. 

The MADIS—the Marine Air Defense Integrated System—our mobile air defense capability, is also entering service—giving Marines the ability to defeat drones and aircraft with both kinetic and non-kinetic fires. 

These capabilities aren’t limited to the Marine Littoral Regiments. They are being fielded across the Marine Expeditionary Units and the Marine Expeditionary Forces—because every forward-deployed formation must bring modern tools to a modern fight. 

But technology alone doesn’t win battles. Organization matters. That’s why we’ve reshaped our infantry battalions—creating dedicated Fires and Reconnaissance Companies and returning to a 13-Marine Rifle Squad with an integrated precision fires role. 

These changes reflect bottom-up refinement. They’re driven by feedback from Marines in the field, tested through our Campaign of Learning, and validated through analysis, wargaming, experimentation, and force-on-force training. 

Force Design is not a fixed blueprint. It is a living process—evolving as the threat evolves. And with your support, we will keep moving forward. 

But we need your help to keep pace. We need industry to deliver reliable, scalable systems on time. And we need Congress’ advocacy for predictable and sufficient funding.  

When resources fall short, hard choices are inevitable—we will be forced to prioritize and do less with less. 

Alongside modernization, we’re focused on quality of life. That starts with where Marines live. 

For two decades of war, we made funding decisions that prioritized life-saving equipment over infrastructure. I won’t apologize for that—we saved lives. But now it’s time to fix what we deferred. 

Barracks 2030 is the most consequential infrastructure investment plan the Marine Corps has ever undertaken—$5 billion over the Future Years Defense Program. We’re on track with 11 renovation projects underway and 12 more requested for Fiscal Year 25.  

We’ve made a lot of progress, but we’ve got a long way to go, and we need the support of Congress to see this through. Barracks 2030 and Force Design are generational investments in your Marine Corps. And I remain committed to maximizing the impact of every dollar you entrust to us. 

The Marine Corps has passed two consecutive clean audits. We know how to spend money wisely, and we can show you where every dollar goes. From modernization to quality-of-life initiatives, we are committed to being good stewards of the resources you provide. 

That commitment—alongside predictable, sufficient, and on-time funding—ensures we can maintain the readiness of our force and continue to adapt for the future. 

That was a lot in just a few short minutes and I don’t want to steal the panel’s thunder, so I’ll close with this: 

The one thing that will never change is the Marine Corps’ discipline and warrior ethos. We’ll continue to adapt to the changing character of war, but we will never lose sight of who we are.  

We are a warfighting organization—every Marine a rifleman—built to fight and win our Nation’s battles. That is my promise to you and to the Nation. 

With that, I’ll introduce our great panel that is going to talk about how the Marine Corps provides options to our Nation’s leaders. 

Let’s welcome LtGen Bobbi Shea, Commander of MARFORCOM—also no stranger to this audience from her time running OLA. 

LtGen Eric Austin, Deputy Commandant for CD&I, for all of your Force Design questions. 

And, MajGen Jason Morris, Director of Operations for Plans, Policies and Operations. 

Thank you ladies and gentlemen, and I’m looking forward to the panel. 

Semper Fidelis.