Attention!
Forward... March!
Double Time!
Ready! Aim!
Fire!
You are my prisoner, sir!
Good Night, Chesty!
Marines Forever!
Posted on 02/28/2006 6:13:46 PM PST by neverdem
They are known as “The Few. The Proud. The Marines.” And until recently, they were “The Only”—as in the only military branch under Pentagon control without a Special Operations command. That changed when the Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC) opened for business at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina on February 24.
Most Marines would take issue with the notion that the Corps is a latecomer to the Special Operations team, arguing instead that all Marines are considered elite or “special forces.” As General Dennis Hejlik, MARSOC’s first commander, told Proceedings magazine, “All Marines are special.”
Given the Marine Corps’ relatively tiny size, it would be hard to argue with General Hejlik (not that it’s ever a good idea to argue with a Marine general). The Marines account for just 216,000 of the 2.3 million troops in the U.S. armed forces (including Reserve components). That’s barely 9 percent of the total force.
Even so, one would expect Marine Special Forces to be “more special”—and to have a special title to match their special status. After all, the Navy’s elite are known as SEALs; the Army has Delta Force, Green Berets and Rangers; the Air Force has its Air Commandos. But when asked by Proceedings about the name of his new cadre of Marines, General Hejlik’s response said it all: “Marines.”
To underscore the Marines’ determination to prevent any stratification within the Corps, MARSOC Marines will be rotated back into regular Marine units after just three to five years in Special Ops. Not only does this highlight the Corps’ view that it is, by definition, a special force, it also serves as a reminder that this is not an easy step for the Marines to take. It pays to recall that the Pentagon’s Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has been around for 20 years, and the Marines have remained politely, if noticeably, absent from it until now.
Once fully operational, MARSOC will comprise 2,600 Special Ops Marines. Some will specialize in training foreign troops; others will be paired with Marine Expeditionary Units at sea; and still others will stand at the ready at bases on either coast—North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune and California’s Camp Pendleton. According to the American Forces Information Service, “Some elements, including the Foreign Military Training Unit, are expected to assume missions almost immediately.”
This is not surprising. The Marines have been quietly collaborating with SOCOM for years. In 2002, the Marine Corps signed a memorandum of understanding with SOCOM aimed at promoting cooperation and interoperability. The Marine Corps then began building an embryonic Special Operations force in 2003—the clumsily named “Marine Corps SOCOM Detachment.” In addition, a handful of Marines trained with SEALs in 2003, as the San Diego Union Tribune has reported.
Most observers say the Marines were finally pushed into creating a separate Special Ops component by the tireless Donald Rumsfeld—and by the unmistakable reality that the War on Terror, which could last for decades, is a Special Ops war. That means the Marines could miss out on new material, new missions and new money.
Consider SOCOM’s growth since 2001: At around $8 billion, SOCOM’s budget is double what it was just five years ago. There are now some 50,000 Special Ops personnel, and the Pentagon’s latest Quadrennial Defense Review calls for another 15-percent increase in Special Ops manpower.
As Robert Kaplan details in The Coming Anarchy, Special Ops is perhaps the most active and least noticed arm of the Pentagon. In 1996 alone—at a time of peace—“US Special Forces were responsible for 2,325 missions in 167 countries.” In 1998, Special Ops personnel were sent into 144 countries.
With more places to go and more personnel to deploy, Special Ops units are also getting more equipment to deliver them into their secret wars. The Navy, for example, is converting four massive submarines from Trident nuclear missile platforms into stealthy Special Ops transporters. Once the reconfiguration is complete, each sub will be capable of deploying 60 Special Ops personnel and 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles for good measure. By way of comparison, most subs that deploy Navy Special Forces today can handle only 10 to 20 SEALs.
In short, what some have called the U.S. military’s fifth branch has clearly come of age in the post-September 11 period. “Galvanized by the assault on America,” as historian Derek Leebaert concludes, “special warfare is in its heyday.”
Consider how the Pentagon has shifted much of the authority for prosecuting the war to SOCOM, in an effort to improve the speed and lethality of the global anti-terror campaign. The switch, which was reportedly endorsed by Rumsfeld himself, is a dramatic one: US military campaigns are generally handled by one of the regional combat commands (depending upon where the war is being fought), with Special Operations troops usually working under the regional commander, in support of his mission—until recently.
This change stands to reason: When our enemy’s center of gravity was juggernaut war industries, we matched him with heavy industries that produced bombers that flattened Germany and Japan. When our enemy’s center of gravity was endless armored formations and long-range missilery, we matched him with weapons that could incinerate those formations and decapitate Moscow. Now, in a conflict started by small cells of highly motivated specialists in asymmetric warfare, it only makes sense to match the enemy with our own asymmetric warriors who can hunt and kill the enemy from the shadows.
In Afghanistan, these shadow warriors spearheaded an inter-service, inter-agency team that took down the Taliban in a matter of weeks. At the height of the Iraq war, almost 10,000 Special Forces were deployed to prepare the battle space, neutralize the missile threat, secure oil fields and platforms, protect the northern front, gather intelligence and call in pinpoint air-strikes against Saddam’s inner circle. Special Ops teams were also essential to tracking and neutralizing Saddam and his sons.
In the last five years, they have been deployed to Timbuktu and the Horn of Africa, to the Philippines and Thailand, to Georgia and Uzbekistan, on and probably inside the Syrian and Iranian borders, to Pakistan and Afghanistan and Iraq, and into scores of faraway places undisclosed to the public.
In other words, MARSOC will have plenty to keep itself busy.
Alan W. Dowd is a contributing writer with The American Enterprise, weekly columnist at The American Enterprise Online and a senior fellow at Sagamore Institute for Policy Research.
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Special Forces is a title conferred upon "The Silent Professionals".
I wish these guys would get it right.
Special Operations Forces is the generic term that comprises soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines of the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM). Special Forces refers to those SOF troops of The United States Army.
Thank you, SJSAMPLE for clearing that up. Too many generic terms used. Let's get it right, folks.
And then there are those who don't understand the difference between Conventional and Unconventional forces.
The US Military is like a big tool box. Many, many special tools for special tasks. Some tools have more than one use, others can only be used for one thing.
Is the box end wrench better than the screw driver? Depends on what you need done.
Yep.
Like General Officers who think their rank and file, ash and trash, mechanics and admin personel are ALL "Special Forces".
When Lt. O'Bannon took his seven enlisted men, and several hundred desert tribesmen to Tripoli, He was an Army Officer. The Marines were not permanently assigned to the Department of the Navy until 1834, July 11th.
July 11th was celebrated as the Marine Corps birthday until after WWI.
Silent Professionals. I like that.
The problem is, when funding is allocated, Silent Professionals lose out to Loudmouthed Braggarts.
You must be referring to fighter pilots ;)
SOCOM really doesn't see funding shortages.
Lately, it's been the big ticket items (Army Crusader and Comanche, for example) that have taken it in the shorts.
Then again, SOCOM has a habit of spending millions on anything that is even remotely useful in any anticipated mission.
Says it all.
No further comment required.
:)
yes, they all road the short bus to school.
Attention!
Forward... March!
Double Time!
Ready! Aim!
Fire!
You are my prisoner, sir!
Good Night, Chesty!
Marines Forever!
To be fair, the military's job is to both kill people and break things. Snipers make great people killers but are not very effective on armor, bunkers, aircraft, and ships.
Still the ultimate tool in our arsenal of diplomacy regardless the advance of technology.
Thank God for them.
Yep. My first convoy escort mission through Baghdad got ambushed. An IED was detonated and approximately 30 insurgents opened fire on the convoy with AK47s. The turret gunners on the humvees were melting the barrels on their SAWs and .50s while we sped through the kill zone of the ambush. I fired 6 rounds and got 5 kills, that was shooting on the move while the vehicle I was in had jumped the curb and was driving over chunks of concrete and other rubble that was on the ground.
They are when they're armed with a Barret.
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