Good point about the limitations of yearly intake
manpower.
But if you look at the big picture, we have at least 350,000 men
(including reservists) in uniform upon mobilisation. Surely, there
is a way to get 2 battalions of Marines out of this number?
Even if we start with just one combined arms Marine battalion,
after a few intakes we will have several Marine Battalions
including the reservists.
But as the Marine Battalion reservist age, they can be downgraded
back to regular infantry status so we don't need to maintain too
many Marine Battalions as they need a lot of assets.
The focus in future will definitely be on making units as mobile as
possible. Getting there fast is sometimes half the battle
won.
Regular foot soldier infantry units are becoming a thing of the
past. Especially with our dwindling manpower, all combat units
would eventually have some specialised roles or at least end up
being mounted or amalgamated into some combined arms brigades or
divisions.
SAF becoming 3G surely is more than just adding a few computers
here and there. The whole SAF will shrink in size but will increase
in firepower, protection, sophistication in personnel, tactics and
equipment - as well as mobility etc etc.
