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The Marines Need Billions for Climate Prep

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The Twentynine Palms Marine Base in California.

The Twentynine Palms Marine Base in California.
Photo: David McNew (Getty Images)

The Marine Corps says it will need to spend $5 billion over the next 30 years to update two recruit depots for both climate resiliency and the integration of women into boot camp, the Marine Corps Times reported. This move comes as the U.S. military is pushing for better preparation for climate change-fueled disasters like extreme flooding.

The two depots are based in San Diego, California and Parris Island, South Carolina. The Parris Island depot is more than 100 years old and is near low-laying land that will eventually flood.

“Tidal flooding affects low-lying locations around MCAS Beaufort and MCRD Parris Island, including extensive wetland areas, 10 times per year on average,” according to a 2016 case study on the future of the depots. “By 2050, the currently flood-prone areas within both bases could experience tidal flooding more than 300 times annually and be underwater nearly 30 percent of the year given the highest scenario.”

A 2021 article in the Marine Corps Times outlined how some military leaders were concerned about the lack of plans for preventing the South Carolina depot from flooding regularly in the future. One idea involves building a seawall around the facility.  

There are other bases in trouble, too: The U.S. Navy’s huge station in Norfolk, Virginia is experiencing sea level rise at 4.6 millimeters per year along with land subsidence, and several bases have been damaged by extreme weather in recent years, according to 2019 report from Defense One.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Army (the country’s oldest military branch) unveiled a plan to supposedly make its operations more climate friendly, including rolling out electric military vehicles and installing microgrids on its bases that will be powered by renewable energy such as solar panels. The branch will also train soldiers to withstand and respond to natural disasters like floods and heat waves.

Regardless of how much the Army and the Marine Corps weatherize their bases and prepare for future disasters, the U.S. military is a major polluter that uses a tremendous amount of water and energy to run hundreds of military bases around the world. Moving service members across the globe for ongoing operations and maintenance and training also contributes to the military’s already massive carbon footprint. The only greener military is a much smaller one, with fewer bases and vehicles around the world.

Marines need nearly $5B for integrating boot camp, fighting climate change

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The Marine Corps will need nearly $5 billion throughout the next 30 years to upgrade buildings at both Marine Corps recruit depots in the wake of increased gender integration and climate change, according to documents the Marine Corps shared with Congress.

The Corps estimates that it will need $198 million over the next five years for immediate upgrades to make possible boot camp gender integration at both San Diego and Parris Island, South Carolina, according to the documents.

Beyond gender integration, the Marine Corps said it needs more long-term money, “to address resiliency concerns, modernization of facilities, and sustainment of overall recruit training.”

Between five and 30 years from now the Corps believes those costs with come out to about $4.72 billion.

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With the passing of the of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, gender segregated training at Marine Corps boot camp was banned.

Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, had five years to comply with the law while Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego had eight years.

Initially members of Congress believed the law would require boot camp to be integrated at the platoon level, where most of boot camp training takes place.

But the Marine Corps seems to be on the path of arguing that the law only requires it to gender integrate companies.

Either form of gender integration would require large overhauls to the barracks at both Marine Corps recruit depots, the document said.

The Corps has trained at least 19 coed companies at Parris Island, South Carolina, and one coed company at San Diego, despite neither location having barracks capable of handling a coed living situation.

“The Marine Corps was able to temporarily overcome this shortfall by using unoccupied aging barracks to expand capacity,” a document shared with members of Congress said. “Long term support is still needed for a permanent solution.”

With a rising sea level and the precarious position of Parris Island, South Carolina, in the middle of swamp on the edge of the Atlanta Ocean, the very existence of the Corps’ historic boot camp site may be at stake.

By 2050, parts of the base would be underwater nearly a third of the year, a study by the Union of Concerned Scientists predicted.

The costs of keeping the two recruit depots safe from a changing climate and upgrading facilities to allow gender integration caused Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger to consider closing the two bases and consolidating Marine Corps boot camp at a third location.

“We have to get to a place where on both coasts or at a third location, or whatever we end up with that every recruit male, female, there’s all there’s male and female around,” Berger said at Defense One’s 2020 state of the Marine Corps event.

But that idea found little support on Capitol Hill.

“It ain’t gonna happen!” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, tweeted out in response to the idea of moving the base.

“Anyone in the Navy or Marine Corps thinking about closing Parris Island has limited growth potential,” he wrote.

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