--- title: "Size Matters: Marines Looking Into Bigger Rifle Squads For Deployed Forces" date: "2018-10-10" modified: "2018-10-10" authors: - name: "Jeff Schogol" job_title: "Senior Pentagon Reporter" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jeff-schogol/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/bigger-marine-corps-rifle-squads/" categories: - "News" --- # Size Matters: Marines Looking Into Bigger Rifle Squads For Deployed Forces ![]() After shrinking infantry rifle squads, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller is now considering making squads bigger for deployed Marines. - Neller announced in May that rifle squads will be reduced from 13 to 12 Marines, but he added two billets to each squad: an assistant squad leader and a systems operator, who can fly a small drone and be in charge of other technology. - But Marine Expeditionary Units may need rifle squads with 15 Marines “because they are forward-deployed,” Neller said Wednesday at a Defense Writers Group breakfast. - “I don’t know when we’re going to start it,” Neller told Task & Purpose. “That’s just something that came up here recently. But I think if we can generate the people, we’re probably going to do that.” - The extra three Marines would be 0311 riflemen and they would be added to each of the squad’s three fire teams, said Neller’s spokesman Lt. Col. Eric Dent. - For the immediate future, it appears that most rifle squads will get smaller. Neller said he hopes the Marine Corps can begin introducing the 12-Marine rifle squads with assistant squad leaders and systems operators starting in 2020. - “I want to get that implemented to see how it works,” Neller said. “If it doesn’t, we’ll adjust.” **WATCH NEXT:** ![]() ## Author Jeff Schogol is the senior Pentagon reporter for Task & Purpose. He reports on both the Defense Department as a whole as well as individual services, covering a variety of topics that include personnel, policy, military justice, deployments, and technology. ### Author social links [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]() [Twitter]()