MacArthur concluded the conference by informing Craig that the Marine fighting team would remain in Japan under operational control of Joy’s headquarters. This was good news to the Brigade commander. Being attached to the Naval command meant that his Marines would be free to train and otherwise prepare for their future amphibious mission; whereas an assignment to the Eighth Army’s rear echelon might have entailed time-consuming occupational and administrative duties.[82]
Although the solution to Marine Corps problems had seemed simple enough in MacArthur’s office, it was quite another story on the other side of the world in Washington. The Joint Chiefs of Staff had rendered no decision on the general’s 10 July request for a Marine division. Nevertheless, General Cates ordered his staff to draw up detailed plans for expansion so that immediate action could be taken if authorization were forthcoming. As a result, Plans Able and Baker were prepared, the one designed to augment the Brigade to war strength, the other to explore the requirements for creating a full division. To cover these possibilities together with the Corps’ other irrevocable commitments throughout the world, Marine planners were drawn more and more toward a single basic conclusion--if President Truman and the Joint Chiefs of Staff granted MacArthur’s request, the Marine Corps Reserve would have to be mobilized at once.
When the Joint Chiefs received the message which MacArthur had dictated in General Craig’s presence, they requested an estimate from the Marine Corps on how long it would take to form a war-strength division. General Cates summed up his case: the Marine Corps, numbering only 74,279 officers and men,[83] was committed on a global basis. There was a brigade on its way to Korea, a peace-strength division on the Atlantic Coast,[84] and a battalion landing team permanently assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. There were detachments of Marines assigned for domestic security, shipboard duty, and overseas security. Moreover, in order to carry out any expansion program on a sound basis, it would be necessary to maintain cadres of experienced personnel in various training centers. The Commandant’s presentation made it clear that any immediate expansion would, as proved by simple arithmetic, be dependent upon mobilization of the Reserve.