David J. Ulbrich examined a portion of the Commandancy of Lieutenant General Thomas Holcomb from 1936 to 1943. When Holcomb took over the Marine Corps it numbered 17,239 officers and men. The Fleet Marine Force consisted of two brigades of 1,500 men, with no heavy artillery or armour, and about nine squadrons of aircraft. When Holcomb left, the Corps had expended to 309, 559 men and women, with four amphibious divisions, 15 independent battalions, and four aircraft wings.