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.
BTTT
Limited colors left as well. Good thing
Yellow blue and pink
You were missing my point - The fact is right now about everyone in theater (especially in Iraq) are all "door kickers" (be it Marines, 101st, 82nd, 10th Mtn, etc, etc).
But those are true "shooters" in the since of the word to what I am referring (along the lines of what SEALs and Delta are tasked with within the SOF community).
MARSOC which will be an asset of SOCOM will fall into a lead role outside of that of which the other "conventional" forces are currently doing (and that of their non-SOF titled Marine brothers).
Do Rangers conduct and run their own Ops designed and tasked solely to them within the SOF - Of course they do. As will MARSOC if called upon.
But Rangers also have the large task of providing the QRF for most SOF operations along with perimeter security. This is what MARSOC will be tasked with as well (and often taking this role for the SEALs).
Regards,
We were the elite, and by God we knew it. Now where these guys get off calling Force Recon Marines 'mature' I'll never know.
L
All bout the allmighty dollar my friend......don't take it personal !......:o)
Correction - Those "aren't" -
LOL
You'd be wrong on many different levels.
No, there is zero comparison between the Rangers and Marine Corps SpecOps.
I do not feel to waste time going over it all but you should research your stuff before you post a brainfart like that.
Oh please. No disrespect intended but being able to squeeze a trigger does not qualify you as a "shooter". I'm not bucking on Recon but if there is one place where the Corps deposits its "shooters" then it is here...
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/usmc/mcsfbn.htm
The 2,200 Marines and Sailors of this Norfolk-based battalion now serve 72 U.S. Navy bases around the globe. Additionally, within the battalion's structure is a training establishment that produces the most deadly multi-weapon, small arms marksmen in the Marine Corps, as well as the nation's only dedicated military anti-terrorism forces, the First and Second Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team (FAST) companies.
I'd know...
I was one of them.
MARSOC is going to be to the Naval Special Warfare Community
(SEALs and SBSs) what the Rangers are to the ARSOF community. When USSOC has a mission that is too large for a SEAL platoon, they'll use a MARSOC element.
Additionally, Marines bring Marine/Naval-peculiar abilities which USSOC can use more of.
Marines have been assigned to SOF commands forever. This is an opportunity to further the USMC contributions to SOF and put the operators and staff on more than an ad hoc basis.
Besides, I've heard for years how FR is a Marine step child. USSOC offers direct access to a myriad of training and equipment FR will love.
I understand that operators are also being taken from FAST and MSPF.
Really no comparison to MARSOC or its capabilities.
Now the Army types over @ SpecOps command or some scared to death SEALS may be floating that gibberish out there but neither Rumsfeld nor the Marine Corps Commandant will go along with that....and at the end of the day....neither would the Marines themselves.
No disrespect taken. But I know very well what I am talking about - I'll leave it there -
As I said in the term of "shooter" as I was referring those within MARSOC are not going to be the "shooters" or trigger-pullers in the mold of SEALs and Delta. They will not be tasked with the same roles and responsibilities.
MARSOC will certainly be tasked with its own Ops (just as Rangers are at times) but MARSOC will also have a responsibility within SOCOM to provide QRF's as well as perimeter security in SOF DA Ops -
You obviously aren't aware of what Rangers have been up to in the Mountains of Stan -
~Grin~
Like I said...some Seal or Army types might be trying to mold MARSOC into a security element reenforced but I guarantee you that neither Rumsfled nor the Corps is floating down that river.
Sure...the Army & Navy brass within SOC will desperately try [as desperately as they were in trying to keep the Corps officers off of SOC] to keep the Corps unit in check, pull from its other capabilities etc, etc but that'll be a losing battle.
Just too many fights to be had where "shooters" are required.
The SEALS & Green Berets'll ramp up their schools and drop their standards but they will not be able to produce enough green shooters to overshadow a far superior capability sitting right in front of the SecDef [especially when he is already aware of it].
We'll see.
should be an interesting evolution.
Haha...what? Desperately trying to take over the 10th Mountain's job?
Rangers are what they are; A sizable gene pool for Delta and Army Special Forces to pull from. Not bad, they do a good job [at some things] but not all that either.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.