Posted on 06/05/2002 7:37:51 AM PDT by LavaDog
WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps, which has resisted creating a permanent unit of commandos throughout its 227-year history, has been spurred by the war on terrorism to move in that direction this fall.
The Marines will assign several dozen troops to a Tampa headquarters that oversees all U.S. commandos. That could prompt it to establish a special operations force, Marine officials say.
The move highlights how the war on terrorism has elevated the importance of commando units. Army Green Berets, Navy SEALs and Air Force rescue teams have played key roles in the hunt for al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan.
The U.S. Special Operations Command will help integrate the Marines with the 46,000 Army, Navy and Air Force commandos it now oversees.
Although no final decision has been made on creating a separate commando unit, Marine Corps officials say the reassignments increase the odds that it will happen.
David Segal, a military sociologist at the University of Maryland, says the Afghanistan experience makes it clear "that our special operations capabilities have to grow."
"If you don't get into the game, the extra numbers of people will go to the other services," he says.
The Marine Corps had a small number of "raider" commandos during World War II, but it has opposed a permanent force because it believes every Marine is an elite fighter. A Marine creed is "Every Marine a rifleman."
Even so, the Marines have about 800 troops who are not considered commandos but receive special training in reconnaissance techniques similar to those used by Army Special Forces soldiers.
Lt. Col. Giles Kyser, a Marine officer familiar with the decision to assign Marine forces to Tampa headquarters, says the move will create a delicate balancing act. "We need to change our training and procedures," Kyser says, "while at the same time holding onto things that make us Marines."
Yeah but the only problem is that most Special Ops requires highly intelligent men, where are you going to find those in the Marines? They should leave the thinking to us Army types!
Hehe.
Easy there big fella...people who live in glass houses...I've seen a lot of the mouth breathers with their trousers tucked in their boots...at least the Corps requires a High School Diploma...or GED (not that it means much these days)...
Hey I heard that they take the chewing gum out of the Marine's MREs because they don't want them distracted when they're playing with live ammo. Is that true?
have you read "making the corps"?- excellent book that discusses the Marine's focus on retaining a "warrior" culture.
This ex-army guy was impressed.
I haven't read it. Who's the author?
As far as live ammo goes, the USMC is the only force in the world that conducts battalion level integrated air-ground training with live ammo; from the M-16s, mortars, and 155s to the 2000 pound MK-84 bombs, on a routine basis. It's called a CAX (Combined Arms Exercise), and held about a dozen times a year.
Side note, that bastard doesn't even have a CIB. What was he doing during all of our wars, passing out wool socks?
Just kidding -- I expect that now my departed Marine Raider dad will come back to kick my sorry squid butt..
I've never been a Marine [4 years enlisted Army, a couple as a Dept of the Army civilian, plus a hitch working for the Navy [and with Marines] when the Navy development of the M86 sniper's rifle was going on, plus six years as a USAF bluesuiter. But Marines saved my behind a couple of times, and I owe them bigtime for that, and while their Corps certainly has its faults and shortcomings, the ones best qualified to identify and prioritize their problems is the Marines themselves.
One of the areas in which the Marines have always really shined is their ability to adapt their usual structure as needed to any special detail or circumstance that's been thrown at them: we think of them as outr elite amphibious troops now, but that was once a highly experimental and innovative role to which they adapted and made their own. Likewise when the Marine Raiders were needed, they were so formed- by presidential order, no less- and got the job done. If the experiment with the para-Marines was less successful, it was ahead of its time, and when Marine aviation embraced the helicopter as a new tool to be used as the French had during their counterinsurgency war in Algeria, that development was better established for what the Marines had coming in Vietnam.
Criminal gangs raiding the mail trains in the 1920s? It was the Marines who were posted as mail guards, and the robberies came to a screeching halt. Marines not only shoot back, they have a great time doing it, and that was a lot less fun than shotgunning underpaid mail clerks....Sort of sounds like a current problem we have needing armed guards on commercial aircraft, doesn't it.
So can the Marines put together a well-trained unit of skilled personnel for use in the SpecOps role? Of course. They already have the MEU-SOC teams and Force Recon to draw from, and with the arrangement of such an assignment as a place where a good Marine could pull his specialized duty as a major career field rather than just a 2 or 3 year *ticket punch* assignment, with unit continuity and personnel overlap, it could show that Marines will handle and job with which they are tasked, be it Embassy duty, service as a fleet Marine, or assignments passing their experience on to other Marines in training assignments.
This *new* unit [which sounds a lot like an umbrella for the MEU-SOC teams and Force Recon] will fit in fine and get the job done just as well as any other detail with which Marines are tasked, If it doesn't get nitpicked and micromanaged to death. They'll deserve a mark of distinction and will get one either officially or otherwise but I hope they avoid funny headgear for them, as Marine covers are really more appropriate than some tarboosh, fex or turban....
This may all have come about as a part of the Marines *jumping on the bandwagon* to get their slice of the SpecOps budget and publicity pies, but something good could come out of it- or it could become another tail-wagging-the-dog boondoggle. We shall see. It's one more job among the many their Corps has been given in its history, which stretches back longer than this country's formal founding. If anyone can make the best of it, the Marines can.
-archy-/-
Seriously though. If I am not mistaken, Shinseki's background is machanized. During the beret fight last year, I read reports that he wore a black beret in 'Nam, unauthorized of course, just like the Brit's armored troops do. I guess that is why he wanted the black beret ..... so he could make our Army look cool just like the Brits. Genious.
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