It’s rather a obviously a politically grounded decision, not a tactical one.
The Marines won’t be needing tanks because the American appetite for intervention has been whetted for the foreseeable future.
Given the current trends in the US, in ten years we may be discussing how sad it was the Marine Corp was defunded and disbanded to provide funds to plant daisies and daffodils along the nation’s pothole riddled interstate highways.
The problem is you don’t need tanks ( or military forces) until you do. Being caught off guard is never a good thing. It’s happened to us before.
You could be right Wade lol lol !!
Seems to me, if a potential adversary has tanks, your side should have tanks.
I’ve read the SLOWEST theoretical rate of fire for a QUALIFIED Abrams crew is 8.58 rounds a minute. With typically 90 percent accuracy that is in theory 7 destroyed enemy tanks a minute. I’ve read a few outstanding Abrams crews can empty the ready rack in like 45 seconds for something like a brief burst of 17 rounds a minute.
More realistic is probably 5 rounds in combat but the point is a platoon of friendly tanks can hose an entire company of enemy tanks in an amazing brief period of time. I don’t think that can be done with hellfires & tows etc quiet as efficiently.
If one needs to kill a lot of tanks very fast, I think a superior tank is probably still the most efficient way to do it.
In other words, the Marines should get to keep all of their tanks:)
Me and my brothers have discussed this at length to mostly a similar conclusion. 
I agree 1000%, in the first Gulf War the Reveille Engagement shows what a barely trained crew can do. They had two weeks of training before deployment with a new them weapon system.
Seem like some of our leadership is at risk of forgetting many lessons from fairly recent history.
I’ll confess to being a bit of an arm chair strategist. However, one slices it, if an enemy attacked a group of Marines and discovered two platoons of Abrams hosed two companies of their armor in like five minutes or less, I’d imagine that would take some aggressiveness out of their forces.
It would also probably over load enemy laundry services as clean underwear would be in very high demand.
I agree and I hope we are both wrong.
An old joke about the power of two Marines. A Taliban Army platoon was on patrol when the commander noticed a lone U.S. Marine standing on a hilltop in their area. The commander told two of his soldiers to go take out the Marine, so they dropped their packs and promptly ran as fast as they could toward him. Just before they got to the top, the Marine ran over the other side of the hill. The two soldiers followed. For the next few minutes there were screams and dust flying in the air. Then as quick as it had started, it stopped and the Marine came up on the hilltop. He brushed off his cammies, straightened his cover, crossed his arms and stood there looking at the Taliban soldiers.
The infuriated commander called for a squad to go get the Marine. They promptly ran as fast as they could toward him. Just before they got to the top, the Marine ran over the other side of the hill. The squad followed, and for the next few minutes there were screams and dust flying in the air. Then as quick as it had started, it stopped and the Marine came up on the hilltop. Brushed off his cammies, straightened his cover, crossed his arms and stood there looking at the Taliban soldiers once again.
The commander was really hot now. He ordered the rest of his platoon to attack the Marine. Determined that Taliban soldiers were far superior to one lone U.S. Marine, they had blood in their eyes as they ran up the hill. Just before they got to the top, the Marine ran over the other side of the hill. The bloodthirsty soldiers followed. For many minutes there were screams and dust flying in the air. It continued and continued. Finally, one lone Taliban soldier came crawling back to the commander. His uniform was torn, cuts were all over his body. The commander asked for a report. The lone soldier, trying to catch his breath, replied in a forceful and trembling voice:
“Sir,…run,…it’s a trick. There are TWO of them!!” 
No armor, light, mobile, insurgent hunters. Fastest way for the Army justifying absorbing the Marines. They become “elite” like the airborne. Look good but don’t fight much.
I keep looking for a silver lining but all I keep finding is a sows ear. 
Oh my god.
that is ridiculous!
Cheers!
L
Since we are technically part of the Navy I don’t see being absorbed by the Army but the CMC has already talked about a smaller Corps, this will help to make it smaller and easier to become smaller to be absorbed more into the Navy and start to look like per Korean War end strength.
it could be worse you could be the British army, soon it will be downsized to just two men. one to fire the gun and the other to ask for the bullet back.
Good one. My uncle that fought on the Eastern Front told me of Soviet troops without rifles running towards them picking up weapons dropped by the first unfortunate batch. He also sardonically pointed out that often these units had “security” forces right behind them that would shoot shirkers and thought that it was interesting that these troops, at least, had sufficient weapons…
So busy retelling that one that I forgot to mention how upset a Marine friend of mine is on this “rationalization” of the Mariner Corp and that it can’t be a well-rounded force without organic armour and air assets. Relying on other Services to support them would probably prove to be a very efficient way to kill Marines. In job lots.
It has in the past. Hard earned lessons will be lost and relearned with blood once again.
I’m guessing they mean island’s significantly smaller than Taiwan.
I couldn’t agree more. Nothing wrong with inter service cooperation (calling in artillery or air strikes) but there’s nothing like have tanks right there with you reading from the same playbook. Much more expedient. Time is money and blood.
May be I am not in the path to know but the “New” direction the Corps is taking has not been articulated well and I do not understand the force changes. There are force multipliers and the more you take away the fewer multipliers you have. I am unsure of our changing mission focus. I just understand light weight forces don’t get used. Mountain troops and Airborne have a place but it is not in the heavy fighting.
Since we are discussing Marines, with and without tanks, here is a video: The 11th Order (2019) - Official Release - YouTube
Ken