The absolute LAST thing you want to face as an enemy is Force Recon Marines. Having been support staff for them, you don’t get in their way when they are on a mission.
Many years ago, I was a young Marine when I met up with Force Recon. USS Princeton was their jumping off point. We were involved in a giant 85-ship, 7-nation SEATO maneuver off the coast of Formosa (Taiwan). This was Princeton’s first deployment as an Amphibious Assault Ship(LPH-5).
Anyway, one team of Force Recon Marines had a mission to blow up a bridge and set up a radio station. All of a sudden, a young 1st Lt. runs into AirOps to tell the Air Boss that the four Marines were lost. Nobody thought much of it, until the ist Lt. said: “You don’t understand. They have a mission to blow up a bridge and to set up a radio station. And they don’t care where the bridge is.”
Considering that we were operating between Formosa and Red China, it took about two seconds for the Lt.’s statement to sink in. Sixty ships pulled out of maneuvers to find the lost Marines. They were found on an island three days later. They said their radio had been smashed on the rocks and explosives had been placed.
I’ll bet the story behind that story is even wilder than you portrayed. No doubt.