Marine Specops

[dodge]

Marines everywhere rejoice:

"Friday, in a ceremony here with high military and government officials present, America’s newest weapon will activate and give terrorists more reasons to fear as the United States Marine Corps establishes Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) and joins the celebrated ranks of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). USSOCOM’s mission is to plan, direct and execute special operations in the conduct of the War on Terrorism in order to disrupt, defeat, and destroy terrorist networks that threaten the United States, its citizens and interests worldwide. "

Cool logo...now lets kill some terrorists.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/64D9C69C91287BD88525711E007467CE?opendocument

 

[batman527]

Cool logo...now lets kill some terrorists.

I think a Marine Spec Opps Unit should be able to accomodate that request...

 

[batman527]

Two Marine Special Operations Battalions (MSOB), one on each coast, will be organized, trained, and equipped to deploy for worldwide missions as directed by MARSOC. Each MSOB will consist of several Marine Special Operations Companies and be task-organized with personnel uniquely skilled in special equipment support, intelligence and fire-support.

MSOB- now that is a tight name. "what unit do you belong to?" " I belong the the east coast Mean Son's of B*tches. You want to fight about it?"

 

[Whalebite]

What is Force Recon then?

 

[gaijin6423]

This was a hard sell item for us, believe me, and it's definitely a paradigm shift. The Marine perspective (roughly translated) has traditionally been one of, "We don't need special forces, because we train to similar missions already." That 'Special Forces' mission description is a little bit different these days, and there is a significant amount of funding that goes along with it. In order to get that funding (and an associated piece of the SF optempo pie), the Marines have had to commit resources to SOCOM, something that was not considered acceptable in the past. Mainly because any use of Marine special forces would have to be submitted through and approved by SOCOM.

The way I see it, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that there will be significant resources and personnel tasked out to these SF units, and they will fall under other than Marine command. The good news is that there will be significant resources and personnel tasked out to these SF units, which means good gear, good training, and lots of operational experience.

On a side note, this has been tried before during World War II with the Marine Raider Battalions. Times have changed significantly since then, though.

 

[BRM21o]

Will Marine air assets still be considered Special Operations Capable or will some fall under SOCOM as well?

 

[batman527]

I assume that if you're going to do something like this right, you're going to need helicopters, transports and maybe some supporting attack helicopters for when the sh*t hits the fan. But then again, maybe those assets don't need to be under the direct control of SOCOM for that. I also have no basis of information or personal experience to base that on. Whatever. Don't judge me. YOU DON'T KNOW ME!

 

[RootinTootin]

Sounds like good news. After what the Raiders did to the Japanese in WWII, terrorists should have plenty to fear from a Marine SpecOps.

 

[VAmookie]

what sort of contact will the air community have with the special forces units, if any?

 

[cWood30]

I don't know, I can see the aviation going one of two ways. The first is that the existing SpecOps aviation community simply enlarges to accomodate the new Marine SpecOps team. So the existing aviation support (I believe it's mostly supplied by Army helicopter pilots currently, could be wrong though) would gain a bit more funding and a bit more resources to handle the new influx. The second is that they pull existing seasoned Marine support/attack helicopters and pilots and put them through some serious SpecOp ground and formation training. Then they throw some serious money and personnel at that program and the Marines really get to have some fun! This is all just a relatively uneducated PLC desk jockey's opinion, so I could be way off base, but I'm hoping that they will seriously consider a Marine SpecOp aviation support team.

I agree with the "double edged sword" comment earlier on the Marine Special Operations Battalion. It's a blessing, and it's a curse. Increased funding/experience and the Marines can see what they can do with loads of resources and in-battle adaptation and experimental techniques and weapons. But, in order to gain this privilege the Marines had to give up some of their pride and give in to creating "Special" Marines. At the same time, I highly commend the higher-ups for sticking to their guns and not giving in whatsoever to giving them a special designation. They're simply a different group of Marines that are fit for that particular mission, or at least that's the message I get from that little action.

 

[ArkhamAsylum]

Same smell, diff skivvies

I see Gaijin has also read the 7 Habits....
Marines have always been called to perform special operations. Now, some will have a different boss, with slightly different training and gear. I'm sure Marine pilots (as well from all services) will be called on to support said missions, but Marines always have been and will continue to be called to perform missions that "traditional" units are incapable of (aka MEU (SOC)). Ya, it's cool that our Force Recon gurus will get HALO training and will get to be the main effort for once, but this in no way changes the mission of the Corps nor does it detract from "traditional" units' effectiveness.
If they really wanted to become effective, they would begin with the end in mind, and seek first to understand, then to be understood.

 

[Frumby]

Apparently, no one on this thread understands Force or what they do. This is no double edge sword, no creation of "special Marines" and Force has always done the non-traditional alongside the traditional. What this does is create a unifying command where Marine "black ops" are not only ADCON but also OPCON to the Corps. We control them were ever they go. BTW, Marines have always done exchange tours within the TEAMS(their training is identical) as well as Delta(or whatever they choose to call themselves today). Snake-eaters aren't the only SpecOPS operators there are also UAV and EW specialists(San Antonio). Its the brightest, black day for the Corps.
Frumby

 

[Stearmann4]

As far as rotary wing support, this is what we've heard through our twisted, grapevine: As MARSOC is officially under SOCOM now, we will provide support to them in the same manner as we have our other "customers." The most likely scenario, is that Marine air will continue to provide the support they always have because Marines supporting Marines is always a win-win. The biggest change will be that MARSOC will be able to request our services oveseas.

I know for certain, that now that we have a west-coast unit, we're on the board to work with the guys out of Pendleton in the future.

 

[eddie]

QUESTION.

From the mission profile, it looks like these guys are going to do a mission that is hybrid between the kind of stuff that Green Berets do and what Recon and Team guys do.

Am I on the right track/can anyone comment?

 

[phrogdriver]

MARSOC will not be one crowd of super snake eaters. They will have several MOSs represented doing widely varying tasks. One contingent will be doing military training for foreign units, which has in the past been a major duty of SF "A-Teams." (no, not the one with Mr. T). Some others will be direct action types, doing stereotypical commando-type stuff.

Like any Marine unit, I imagine it will lean on Marine aviation assets, but not be bound to it. Marine Times a few weeks ago said that some MARSOC dets would be aboard amphibious shipping, in which case they'd have to use Marine air. Other than that, they'll probably use whoever is available or can best support the mission, whether that be AFSOC or SOAR. Those guys will play with whoever needs the ride.