diff --git a/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1.h b/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1.h
index bc066202eb..a564e90d26 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1.h
+++ b/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1.h
@@ -208,6 +208,14 @@ extern int mca_pml_ob1_start( size_t count,
 
 extern int mca_pml_ob1_ft_event( int state );
 
+/**
+ * We will use these requests to hold on a traditionally allocated
+ * requests in order to allow the parallel debugger full access to the
+ * message queues (instead of allocating the requests on the stack).
+ */
+extern struct mca_pml_ob1_recv_request_t *mca_pml_ob1_recvreq;
+extern struct mca_pml_ob1_send_request_t *mca_pml_ob1_sendreq;
+
 END_C_DECLS
 
 struct mca_pml_ob1_pckt_pending_t {
diff --git a/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1_component.c b/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1_component.c
index 309c51cdf8..2f37468ee2 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1_component.c
+++ b/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1_component.c
@@ -304,6 +304,15 @@ int mca_pml_ob1_component_fini(void)
     OBJ_DESTRUCT(&mca_pml_ob1.lock);
     OBJ_DESTRUCT(&mca_pml_ob1.send_ranges);
 
+    if( NULL != mca_pml_ob1_recvreq ) {
+        OBJ_DESTRUCT(mca_pml_ob1_recvreq);
+        mca_pml_ob1_recvreq = NULL;
+    }
+    if( NULL != mca_pml_ob1_sendreq ) {
+        OBJ_DESTRUCT(mca_pml_ob1_sendreq);
+        mca_pml_ob1_sendreq = NULL;
+    }
+
     if( NULL != mca_pml_ob1.allocator ) {
         (void)mca_pml_ob1.allocator->alc_finalize(mca_pml_ob1.allocator);
         mca_pml_ob1.allocator = NULL;
diff --git a/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1_irecv.c b/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1_irecv.c
index 88174dd8c8..d06fe09c10 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1_irecv.c
+++ b/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1_irecv.c
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@
 #include <alloca.h>
 #endif  /* HAVE_ALLOCA_H */
 
+mca_pml_ob1_recv_request_t *mca_pml_ob1_recvreq = NULL;
+
 int mca_pml_ob1_irecv_init(void *addr,
                            size_t count,
                            ompi_datatype_t * datatype,
@@ -92,10 +94,15 @@ int mca_pml_ob1_recv(void *addr,
                      struct ompi_communicator_t *comm,
                      ompi_status_public_t * status)
 {
-    mca_pml_ob1_recv_request_t *recvreq =
-        alloca(mca_pml_base_recv_requests.fl_frag_size);
+    mca_pml_ob1_recv_request_t *recvreq = mca_pml_ob1_recvreq;
     int rc;
 
+    if( NULL == recvreq ) {
+        MCA_PML_OB1_RECV_REQUEST_ALLOC(recvreq);
+        if (NULL == recvreq)
+            return OMPI_ERR_TEMP_OUT_OF_RESOURCE;
+        mca_pml_ob1_recvreq = recvreq;
+    }
     OBJ_CONSTRUCT(recvreq, mca_pml_ob1_recv_request_t);
 
     MCA_PML_OB1_RECV_REQUEST_INIT(recvreq, addr, count, datatype,
diff --git a/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1_isend.c b/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1_isend.c
index 157cddd730..3093e70bb8 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1_isend.c
+++ b/ompi/mca/pml/ob1/pml_ob1_isend.c
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@
 #include <alloca.h>
 #endif  /* HAVE_ALLOCA_H */
 
+mca_pml_ob1_send_request_t *mca_pml_ob1_sendreq = NULL;
+
 int mca_pml_ob1_isend_init(void *buf,
                            size_t count,
                            ompi_datatype_t * datatype,
@@ -181,8 +183,7 @@ int mca_pml_ob1_send(void *buf,
     ompi_proc_t *dst_proc = ompi_comm_peer_lookup (comm, dst);
     mca_bml_base_endpoint_t* endpoint = (mca_bml_base_endpoint_t*)
                                         dst_proc->proc_endpoints[OMPI_PROC_ENDPOINT_TAG_BML];
-    mca_pml_ob1_send_request_t *sendreq =
-        alloca(mca_pml_base_send_requests.fl_frag_size);
+    mca_pml_ob1_send_request_t *sendreq = mca_pml_ob1_sendreq;
     int16_t seqn;
     int rc;
 
@@ -206,6 +207,11 @@ int mca_pml_ob1_send(void *buf,
 
     seqn = (uint16_t) OPAL_THREAD_ADD32(&ob1_comm->procs[dst].send_sequence, 1);
 
+    /**
+     * The immediate send will not have a request, so they are
+     * intracable from the point of view of any debugger attached to
+     * the parallel application.
+     */
     if (MCA_PML_BASE_SEND_SYNCHRONOUS != sendmode) {
         rc = mca_pml_ob1_send_inline (buf, count, datatype, dst, tag, seqn, dst_proc,
                                       endpoint, comm);
@@ -214,6 +220,13 @@ int mca_pml_ob1_send(void *buf,
         }
     }
 
+    if( NULL == sendreq ) {
+        MCA_PML_OB1_SEND_REQUEST_ALLOC(comm, dst, sendreq);
+        if (NULL == sendreq)
+            return OMPI_ERR_TEMP_OUT_OF_RESOURCE;
+        mca_pml_ob1_sendreq = sendreq;
+    }
+
     OBJ_CONSTRUCT(sendreq, mca_pml_ob1_send_request_t);
     sendreq->req_send.req_base.req_proc = dst_proc;
     sendreq->rdma_frag = NULL;