Posted on 01/26/2006 5:21:43 PM PST by SandRat
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2006 – The Marine Corps Special Operations Command, the newest addition to the special operations community, will be a complementary force that will ease the strain on other services' elite units and will contribute to the nation's readiness in the global war on terror, the new unit's commander said here today. "I firmly believe that this is the right thing to do for the country at this time," said Marine Brig. Gen. Dennis J. Hejlik, commander of Marine Corps Special Operations Command. "This irregular warfare is here to stay. If we don't start to go that way, where the force is more joint and more capable across the spectrum, that's not a good thing."
The Marine Corps Special Operations Command, or MARSOC, will formally stand up its headquarters Feb. 24 at Camp Lejeune, N.C. In addition to the headquarters, Camp Lejeune will be home to the Marine Special Operations Support Group, several foreign military training units, a Marine special operations battalion, and the Marine Special Operations School, Hejlik said. Another Marine special operations battalion will be stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., he said.
Over the next five years, MARSOC will grow to an end strength of 2,600 people, Hejlik said. This will include 24 foreign military training units that will deploy worldwide in support of U.S. Special Operations Command and the various combatant commanders, he said. MARSOC already has three FMTUs that will deploy in 2006 and 2007, he said.
The Marine special operations battalion will include four Marine special operations companies, each with 97 to 118 people, depending on mission requirements, Hejlik said. The core of these companies will be experienced force reconnaissance Marines taken from the mainstream Marine Corps, he said.
"There's a lot of capability there, because they're a little bit older; they're a little bit more mature," he said.
The Marine special operations companies will deploy with Marine expeditionary units, Hejlik said. Once deployed, the companies will under operational control of the special operations commander in theater, but be available to support the MEU if needed, he said.
"The intent is not just to rip the guts out of the MEU," he said. "We like to say that they're not separate, but separable."
The focus of MARSOC at the beginning will be the foreign military training units and their missions, Hejlik said. These units will complement the work being done by similar units in other special operations forces and will fill gaps that have arisen due to the recent high demand on special operations, he said. The Marine FMTUs will support all five geographic combatant commanders, with the first scheduled to carry out a mission for U.S. European Command, he said.
The first Marine special operations company will not be formed until May 2006 at Camp Lejeune, Hejlik said.
Marines will only spend three to five years in MARSOC and then will be rotated back into the regular Marine Corps, Hejlik said. This rotation will benefit the entire force, because young Marines will be trained to a higher standard in MARSOC and will bring those skills to other units, he said. It will also prevent Marines from becoming stagnant in one unit and give them opportunities for advancement and education, he said.
"If you take a quality Marine and you bring him up to a little higher standard using (special operations forces) standards, and you give him the right equipment, he is unbeatable," he said.
MARINE SPECOPS goes beyond FORCERECON
Special Ops + Marines = pwnage.
Under whose command?...do they then get to also dip into
Big Army?...or Big Navy?
Glad to see MARSOC has become reality. About time IMO.
Great idea, past due.
Why the hell do The Marines need a "Special Operations" outfit?
It's been said a thousand times by those a thousand times smarter then me, The United States Marine Corps is a Special Operations outfit by it's very nature.
The next thing you know someone is going to want berets.
Please God NO BERETS!!!!!!
I'm having trouble keeping up with all the changes. Lejuene used to be Force Troops, FMFLant and 2nd MarDiv.
Anything, anywhere, that needed killing, had less than 2 weeks to live. (Depending on our holliday schedule)
Things were so simple 35 years ago. :-(
Semper Fi
bump.
I know its tough, but try and remember its to make our troops more mobile and easier to deploy. The Cold War is over and theres a new enemy out there. We have to change.
Now, they want to overlap the Army Special Forces Foreign Internal Defense missions.
This sounds like a commander who wants a feather in his cap. BTW, Marines would look funny wearing a beret!
If everybodys special no one really is......
Spec Op's titles are out of control.....just a move for a slice of that DOD money pie IMO.
God Bless the Mk 1 Mod O door kickers getting trigger time !
Marines send Recon trainees to all the other services "Special Ops" schools already.
The Marines in the twenties did everything the Green Berets were created to do in the sixties.
Now I'm not going to say we don't need Special Ops in the military we just don't need a special special ops unit in The Corps.
The next thing you know someone going to get the bright idea of streamlining the Marine Corps by getting rid of it's armor, aviation, and logistical assets, as well as picking out a shade for a Marine Beret, like pale blue.
Ping
Change your diaper. I don't need a history lesson.
Spec Op's titles are out of control.....just a move for a slice of that DOD money pie IMO.
I agree with you here on the whole -
From what I'm hearing MARSOC are going to take on a role equal to say that of Rangers. MARSOC are going to be shooters....but not shooters in the since of SEALs/DELTA but more in the mold of the Rangers.
Which isn't altogether that bad of an idea. MARSOC will provide SOCOM with another asset they can put directly into the fight on short to no notice. I have a feeling they will run perimeter security for a lot of SEAL Ops.
Why do I have this weird feeling they are just going to take the marines recon units, and the marine sniper units and just re-package and underfund them?
My son with the air wing of the Marines has volunteered to stay in Iraq and joined the 22MEU in the town of Hit, Iraq.
This is his first article from the famous unit.
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/0/298CB76830B294EA85257101003AB9D2?opendocument
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