At present, the Marine Corps has a total number of more than 250,000 personnel, of which 3.5 are pre-1942 troops - 24,000 are stationed in overseas bases and major embassies and consulates, more than half of the 11,000 people in the homeland are officers, and the other half are all combatants - because a large number of civilian work is handled by the Admiralty, the Navy and Land have no civilian structure of their own, and they are all combatants from top to bottom.

Of the 220,000 troops recruited in the past year and a half, 150,000 units that have been trained for half a year have been organized into four divisions and 20 specialized battalions, which are respectively organized into the Third and Fifth Amphibious Armies, which are assigned to the Pacific and Atlantic fleets.

Another 70,000 people are undergoing training, which is expected to end at the end of November and the end of the year.

According to Holkum's original plan when he was in office, after the completion of the training, the 70,000 men would form two new divisions and 10 specialized battalions, which would be strengthened into two amphibious corps.

After Li Junhao took over, he immediately stopped this plan, and he wanted to keep these two divisions under his personal command; Moreover, he also has to recall the two amphibious troops.

In addition, he had received approval from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to include the 101st Army in the Indo-Burma Theater in the land and sea sequence – of course, two of the British brigades were not counted.

Not long ago, the 255th and 256th Divisions deployed by the War Department had arrived in Burma to replace the 102nd Special Operations Regiment, the 104th Gurkha Division, and the 82nd Airborne Division, which were being transported to the United States by sea. According to the decision of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army is transferring the 275th and 276th Divisions to Burma to replace most of the 101st Army.

After these troops arrived in the United States, except for the 102nd Special Operations Regiment, which was renamed the New England Regiment and remained the National Guard in the New England area, the 104th Division and the 101st Army would be incorporated into the naval and land sequence.

In fact, Li Junhao wanted the 82nd Airborne Division very much, but the War Department resolutely disagreed, preferring to pay more to buy the new equipment he equipped the 82nd Division with!

At a joint staff meeting, Marshall told him that after the 82nd Airborne Division returned home, it would be split in half to form a new airborne division, so he really couldn't give it to him.

——

According to the regulations of the U.S. military, soldiers are divided into two categories: conscripts and conscripts:

Conscription refers to soldiers who take the initiative to sign up for the army, and enjoy the treatment of professional soldiers after enlistment, and the benefits and promotion opportunities are implemented in accordance with high standards.

Conscription refers to the compulsory military service of personnel of appropriate age issued by the State Mobilization Bureau in accordance with the Military Service Law, and the period of military service is generally limited to two to three years, which can be extended in times of war.

Conscripts are assigned to the National Mobilization Bureau, enjoy ordinary treatment, have very few opportunities for promotion, and it is basically impossible for them to remain in the army if they do not become professional non-commissioned officers at the end of their service period.

So, no matter what branch of the military, of course, they all like to recruit soldiers.

In order to expand the Marine Corps and recruit more and better recruits, Li Junhao used a new trick - recruitment advertisements...... Oh no, it's a documentary! ——

As early as October 3, just three days after taking office as commander of the Marine Corps, Li Junhao successfully bid for the Blue Broadcasting Network from NBC for $8.2 million through his KING investment fund.

Subsequently, he commissioned Rist Rockefeller to take over the Blue Broadcasting Network and its 116 affiliated radio stations, and renamed it "ABC" as he liked, making it the third largest broadcast network after CBS (CBS) and NBC.

On October 23, Li Junhao came to ABC headquarters (New York), visited his own radio and television station, and then personally reviewed the sea and land documentaries edited according to his opinions......

On October 26, ABC broadcast a documentary titled "Forever Loyal Marines" to a national audience, introducing the history and achievements of the sea and land, responsibility and faith, bravery and responsibility, war and future, and promoting the supreme belief of "eternal loyalty" of the sea and land!

In this era, Li Junhao used future thinking to guide and edit this documentary, or super-long conscription advertisement, which caused a huge sensation in society as soon as it was broadcast, inspiring countless young people!

Early the next morning, the sea and land conscription points set up in advance in 100 major cities across the country were surrounded by crowds!

Countless Americans exclaimed: There are more people applying to join the Marine Corps than there are Black Friday snappers!

The documentary, which ran on ABC for seven days and was rebroadcast five times a day at different times, not only boosted the recruitment of the land and sea, but also boosted ABC's ratings in a way that TV industry practitioners had not anticipated.

——

On Nov. 2, Lee signed a special order allowing the Marine Corps to recruit female combatants. This is the first time for the entire US army, both on land and sea!

When this order was announced, although some male citizens thought that "war makes women go away", the majority of female citizen groups expressed their support, and young women immediately appeared at the major registration points, and if it were not for the strict age limit (20-30 years old), the number of conscripts would have increased several times!

There is also a windfall to his move – the few dozen or so women in both houses of Congress have become extremely friendly to him. While he is now not a party member and is close to President Roosevelt of the Democratic Party, several Republican congresswomen are equally friendly to him.

Speaking of which, although Congress approved the expansion of the navy and land to 1 million, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the navy and the army, which will be expanded to 3 million, the ground force of the army to 6 million, and the army air force to 2.9 million.

It is said that this order of magnitude was calculated by Congress after measuring the number of armies of the Axis powers!

Li Junhao even guessed whether the 535 members of the two houses of Congress had reached a consensus that even if all the other countries in the world surrendered to the Axis powers, the United States would take on the whole world alone?

This also explains a question in later generations - at the beginning of the year, Mrs. Chiang of the Kuomintang came to the United States and was warmly welcomed by the parliamentarians when she gave a speech in Congress, and later the Kuomintang side blew this matter into the 21st century!

Think about it, if the United States has 12 million troops, and then pull in China, it can easily arm tens of millions or even more troops for it, and the two countries join forces, and they are really not afraid of other countries in the world combined!

Therefore, in his previous life, Britain lost Burma, and the Yunnan-Burma Highway, the land passage to deliver military aid to China, was cut off, and the United States, in order to ensure continuous supply and prevent China from losing confidence in the War of Resistance, took a huge risk to open up a hump route from India over the dangerous Himalayas, and in three years, it dropped 1,500 planes and sacrificed nearly 3,000 excellent pilots.

(End of chapter)