The Marine Corps is requesting a budget of $18.2 billion for 2007, but only a fraction of that will go to buy new equipment, said Lt. Gen. Emerson N. Gardner, deputy commandant for programs and resources. The Corps will need nearly $10 billion in additional funds from two separate 2006 supplemental appropriations—driving the total figure to almost $28 billion—to help the service begin to recover from the Iraq war and reorganize for an extended campaign against terrorism, Gardner told National Defense. “We’re sustaining a force at war,” he said. “We’re recruiting, training and equipping Marines for the battlefield. That’s job one. We’ve got to have the supplementals to get that done.” Full Story