Beginning on September 1, Li Junhao began to devote himself wholeheartedly to the work of sea and land - for him, the Marine Corps was already his unit, equipment, training, and actual combat, how could he lag behind!

Of course, if you want to do a good job, you must first understand the situation, and without investigation, you have no right to speak! Therefore, his first important task is to get a thorough understanding of the sea and land.

At present, the size of the army on land and sea has expanded to 250,000 people, but there is still a huge gap in weapons and equipment, and the use of light weapons is a standard stock of the First World War, and there is a serious shortage of heavy equipment!

The command system of the sea and land is also very chaotic, and the nearly 80,000 troops who have been on the front line have been arranged in various landing clusters of the navy, and in fact they have completely separated from the command of the sea and land command and become the ship-accompanying infantry of the navy; On the other hand, the navy has allowed these naval and land units to undertake the task of seizing islands in the Pacific Theater, but on the other hand, it has treated these units as "post-mothers" and has done an extremely perfunctory job in terms of weaponry and equipment to supply support......

Even after enlisting in the army, the salaries and benefits of the officers and men of the navy and land were nearly half worse than those of the navy and army, and in addition to the backward weaponry and logistical support, the officers and men of the navy and land were completely trained and fought with the support of honor!

Of course, Li Junhao was very dissatisfied with the current situation on land and sea, and the only thing that made him more recognized was that during his nine years in office, Holkum had trained many officers and laid a good talent foundation for the expansion of the troops.

It is precisely because of this that the old commander Holkum dared to put forward a plan to expand the army by another 300,000 in the next step when the sea and land had been expanded to 250,000 people, but all kinds of difficulties could not be solved, so he tried his best to pull Li Junhao in, and for this reason, the old general was even willing to change the position of commander!

Holcombe's feelings for Hailu made Li Junhao feel very admired! Although he doesn't think he has such a high level of consciousness, since he has come, he will do it well, and he is confident that he can do it!

However, in the current conscription work, the sea and land do not have any advantages, and can only passively accept the dispatch of the mobilization bureau, and the outstanding soldiers have gone to the navy and army. There are many reasons for this, but the most important ones are the treatment and equipment, and he is ready to start from these two aspects.

He remembered that in World War II, the U.S. military finally expanded to a huge scale of more than 10 million, but he couldn't remember how many of them reached by sea and land! However, according to the normal proportion, the sea and land should account for at least one-twentieth of the total number of US troops, which shows that the plan made by the old commander still has a certain basis.

——

At the joint meeting of the White House advisers and the Joint Chiefs of Staff on September 6, Li Junhao, who attended the meeting as the director of national intelligence, was wearing a Marine Corps uniform!

Before the meeting began, seeing the two stars on his uniform, the White House Chief of Staff, Admiral Leahy, smiled: "Auger, who demoted you here?" ”

"It's not you big guys yet!" Li Junhao said with resentment, "I'm a lieutenant general of the army, and I did a good job as a commander in the Indo-Burma theater, but you guys joined forces to get me to the Marine Corps, of course I can only wear this uniform, and the rank will naturally become a major general!" ”

Hahaha...... Everyone who heard him laughed!

General Marshall, Chief of Staff of the Army, said: "Auger, you are too serious, but there is no rule, you can't wear the uniform of a lieutenant general to be the deputy commander of the sea and land......"

As soon as he said this, some people were unwilling, and Admiral Stark, the chief of naval operations, said: "Chief of Staff Marshall, what you said is not right, each branch of the military has its own traditions...... Auge became the deputy commander of the sea and land, and wearing the uniform of the sea and land and wearing the rank of the sea and army is the right thing to do! ”

"OK, you're right." Marshall could only nod and say, the other party is on the line, and it is meaningless to argue again.

——

After the agenda at the end of the meeting, Li Junhao said: "Advisers and generals, I have a very serious issue that must be raised - that is, the treatment of the Marine Corps!"

"First of all, let's be clear, the Marine Corps is also part of the U.S. military! However, since they are also officers and men of the US military, why is it that at the same level, the salaries of officers and men of the Navy and Army are less than half of those of the Navy and less than two-thirds of those of the Army?

"Personally, I don't think it's even a simple issue of unequal pay for equal work, but a serious form of discrimination and unfairness! In the popular words of the people: the same is the life of a soldier, is the life of a marine worthless? ”

His last sentence was too ruthless, no one dared to answer at this time, once it was transmitted, the wind and waves of public opinion would directly drown it!

There was silence for a while before National Security Advisor Ayers asked, "Og, what do you mean?" ”

"It's easy!" Li Junhao said, "Since the Marine Corps is now under the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, the salaries and benefits of the officers and men of the Navy and the Navy will be implemented in accordance with the standards of the Navy." ”

Hearing this, Chief of Naval Operations Stark immediately said, "This is impossible!" There is no Marine Corps salary item in the military budget approved by Congress for the Navy......"

As soon as he said this, Marshall, the chief of staff of the Army, who had also raised objections, immediately changed his mind and said: "I think what Auger said is right, the troops under the same Admiralty have to be divided into three, six, nine and so on, which really violates the principle of fairness stipulated in the Constitution!" ”

"Wait a minute!" Stark immediately stopped, "First of all, it must be stated that the Marine Corps is an independent branch of the armed forces that is directly responsible to the president, and its real command belongs to the president, and our Admiralty is only responsible for its day-to-day management and administration - that is, it is only helping, and there is no obligation to deal with other issues at all!" You must understand this. ”

At this time, Li Junhao interjected: "Admiral Stark, what do you mean by this: the Marine Corps is actually managed by the Navy for administration and daily work, and it itself is a completely independent and self-contained unit?" ”

"Yes!" Stark said immediately, but as soon as he finished speaking, he felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't think of it!

"Recorder, the minutes of the meeting must be complete, and I will check your work." Li Junhao looked back at the recording seat next to him, and several White House staff and officers sitting in the back hurriedly nodded.

Looking back, Li Junhao said: "Since this is the case, then I understand that the Marine Corps is an independent armed force and should have its own system...... I will respond to the President and Congress accordingly, and some of the previous mistakes must be corrected! ”

None of the participants could say that his views were wrong, and this allowed him to complete the first step of the plan.

(End of chapter)