Touch stone reaffirmed...

Amphibious by nature, expeditionary through training...

 Via Marine Corps Times...

Marines are definitely getting back to their expeditionary roots.
The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit just returned to Camp Lejeune, N.C., following a seven month deployment. But as Marine Corps Times’ Gidget Fuentes reported, when the 24th MEU was still in the Persian Gulf, there were more Marines on Navy ships than in the combat zone in Afghanistan in late-October.

Things are starting to sort themselves out.  Just a note to the head shed.  The Marines never left the sea, they were assigned a mission by the Commander in Chief that required max effort to win a war in the desert.

I've been going over Marine Corps history and I can't find one mention of the Marine Corps needing to get back to its amphibious roots after prolonged combat in Vietnam.  The "back to the sea" nonsense was a product of poor messaging.  Nothing more or less.