Marines do it their own way

MSNBC ^ | 9/30/01 | Sue Lackey

[kattracks]

A different approach to special forces
A Marine awaits orders during urban war training exercises last week at Camp Pendleton, California.
By Sue Lackey MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR

Sept. 30 —  For the average Marine, it is both amusing and a bit galling to hear all the talk about “special forces” and their capabilities. For while the Army, Navy and Air Force have created Special Operations Commands with a unique structure, the Marine Corps has taken its basic forward deployed unit — the Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) — and trained every one in special operations tactics.

THE FAMED Delta Force is often celebrated as the nation’s most elite special operations team, but its position as a member of the the Army’s Joint Special Operations Command gives it a narrow focus restricted to counterterrorism and hostage rescue. In contrast, each MEU must be qualified in 18 separate mission areas, including counter terrorism. This broad focus in training and qualifications makes the Marine unit more versatile than any other service’s special operations forces.
       Gen. Alfred M. Gray, who served as Commandant of the Marine Corps in the early 1980s, helped create the Joint Special Operations Command. But while the command often requests Marines to flesh out its capability, the Corps is the only service which has refused to join the command at an organizational level. “It goes against the reason the Marine Corps was developed,” says a Marine officer who is a special operations specialist. “It would have forced the Corps to focus on one mission, when the nation needed an amphibious force for forcible entry, with much broader capabilities.”
       Under a recent reform of the system, traditional special operations forces forces are assigned to specific theater Commanders in Chief — for instance, the Commander in Chief, Europe or the Commander in Chief, Southern Command, which handles Latin America. East of these commands have units with specific specialties, and depend on that regional commander for support. MEU’s, however, an amphibious force that can be deployed at will to any theater. Their floating base of operations gives them the ability to sustain a mission longer than other special operations forces, which are traditionally used for short term insertions, or in the case of the Green Berets, specific insurgency training missions.
 

      The true strength of the MEUs lie in their ability to augment their forces with air and ground combat elements and combat service support. This means any given unit can call in tanks, amphibious assault vehicles, and fixed wing aircraft — all of which are part of standard MEU order of battle. Other special operations forces must rely on conventional service support when additional forces are needed.
       A perfect example of this versatility was in the 1983 Grenada invasion, where Army special forces were inserted to extract U.S. Embassy staff. The team was able to reach their target, but were then bottled up inside the embassy and unable to get out through enemy troops. The JSOC team then called for Marine support. An MEU which had been diverted to Grenada broke through with tanks and armored vehicles to extract their colleagues and the embassy personnel they had rescued.
       The way in which special operations training has been integrated into the basic structure of the Corps has changed the capabilities of the Corps as a whole. The other military services are large enough to allow their SF units to function in some degree of separation. Because the Marine Corps is so small in numbers, its SOC qualified personnel rotate on duty throughout the Corps, which has enhanced the overall quality of training and identification with special operations forces. Most of these men have now percolated to the top of the command structure. “It’s been in place so long now that a lot of the flag officers grew up with this-they’re Al Gray’s boys,” said one Marine special operations veteran. “That’s what you do not get in the other special forces, because they tend to stay in their own areas. When they do go into other units to further their careers, they have problems integrating within the conventional forces and its military bureaucracy. They don’t do well as staff officers; they want to go back to their unit.”
       That lack of experienced special forces officers at high levels to give special forces a voice allows other branches of the conventional forces to marginalize the effectiveness of special operations in budget battles and mission planning — a situation the Marine Corps has managed to avoid.

       

[COB1]

"Are you, like, gone over the edge like the grunt in "Full Metal Jacket"? "

No, LIKE, I'm not, LIKE, gone over the edge, dude.
I'm, LIKE, telling it, LIKE, like it is.
Go play with your Nintendo game, kid.
The Marines will take care of the real thing.

[usmcobra]

I joined the Corps in 1975, spent my time in hell errr Parris Island,
and loved it so much that in 1986 when I was to be kicked out because of budget cuts,
went kicking and screaming all the way to HQMC in a futile effort to re-enlist.
I Tell you what Illbay if tomorrow they said we need more Marines, I would kick ass to be at the head of the line
Something that most americans just don't understand is How a Marine's service to his country affects him.
Not to take away from any of the other services but Marines are different,
and those that get it enjoy the very presence of Marines,
all those that don't well they look at Marines as just another service man,
and perhaps that is why Marines get a tad upset at the very suggestion!

[Kowdawg]

Illbay served bravely in Viet Nam as a journalist. He was later elected Vice Perpetrator. He narrowly lost the presidential election after 50000 supporters could not properly punch a ballot.

[bazbo]

Thanks for the post! To all those that have served our country and are represented here this evening I say thank you. For those of you that support those of us that have served our country I thank you as well. For those that cannot understand the psyche of the Marine....well, the truth is unless you have been a Marine you will never understand the closeness of that brotherhood. Of those of you that have not had the opportunity to put on the uniform of our country you may wish to show a portion of respect for those that have. May God be with us....

[bazbo]

...and SEMPER FI!!

[sneakypete]

The army has soliders, the air force has airmen, the navy has sailors, and the Marines have Marines. Please get it right!

Nope,the NAVY has SOLDIERS,and they call them "Marines". Marines are "Naval Infantry". I guess you guys could say you are the "Navy's army".(G)

[bazbo]

Man are YOU messed up! Navy's soldiers?

[sneakypete]

The Apache is so overated, and expensive!

Yup,and who can begin to guess what they will cost if they can ever get them to fly? Infantry lost the A1 Skyraider and the A-10 Warthog for tac air support because the Apache was supposed to do it better. Did they ever even get any to fly in Bosnia?

[LadyX]

....:)))
Probably the correct answers!
He seems to have 'missed' the quiz since Helen Thomas did not ask them..

[csmusaret]

Despite the foaming at the mouth responses you have receieved, I know what you mean. I was in the US Army from 64-87. When I retired the US Army was the best fighting force in the entire world.

[usmcobra]

You are a troll and not a very good one Sneakypete!

The Image I posted was of two USMC Cobras
The same type as went in to Bosnia to rescue Capt. O'Grady
along with a CH-53 Sea Stallion
and two squads of your average Marine Corps Grunts!
Ever time some one says we don't need Marines
Someone ought to stick a Microphone in front of O'Grady and ask him!

[grunt03]

Did you fly cobras?

Me, I was a combat boot driver with a 19 pound M60 appendage on my back.

Semper Fi

[labusiness]

"I say "is", because he always tells me that there are no former Marines-- once a Marine, always a Marine."

Understood, my husband has such reverance for the Corps. that he is sensitive to those who are "retired-Marines," "active Marines" and "lifers." He humbley regards his service of 6 years as a Marine and takes the time very seriously - so I am also careful of how I regard him in juxtaposition to other Marines.

[slym]

<A HREF="http://www.zolatimes.com/V5.40/afghan_invasion.htm> LINK TO EHRLICH ARTICLE</A><b> <p> A veteran correspondant predicts that US forces will take Shindand airport in Afghanistan... <p> Good article for analysis of challenging situation in Afghaistan and Russian mistakes, etc. <p>

[slym]

Oops... Help with the above link, please... (Sorry!)

[grunt03]

Nope,the NAVY has SOLDIERS,and they call them "Marines". Marines are "Naval Infantry". I guess you guys could say you are the "Navy's army".(G)

I started reading this thread and KNEW you'd be along here soon slingin' that Naval Infantry shit. Pops is retired Navy and says the only good marine is a submarine.... wonder what the zoomies call us when we're out of earshot. Where can a lean green fighting machine get any respect around here huh?

[Fester Chugabrew]

"Go back to your comic books. The adults have work to do."

Gawd, you do know how to make an ass of yourself.

[bazbo]

You've got mine....and Chesty Puller is lookin' down on ya:+)

[grunt03]

I've duckwalked up that hill with a full pack and rifle.

That's not the base of Mt. MF is it? Looks too shallow of an ascent for MF. That young jarhead talking about 5 mile runs in gear before lights out missed the fun at the old ITS. Sheeeit, once we ran up MF in full gear, turned left at the firebreak and double timed 11 miles along firebreaks across the top of those frigging hills.

[VietVet]

I don't know if any of you have looked at a map, lately, but Afganistan is completely land-locked, and quite a ways inland. It would be a foolish waste of their specialized training, equipment, and organization to employ a MEU in Afganistan. Not that the Department of Defense is incapable of such a waste; I well remember how 30 years ago, the Marines were sent to occupy a hill-top fifty miles inland near the DMZ in Vietnam, while the Army provided a Brigade of Amphibious Infantry on the Navy ships in the Mekong Delta. (I remember it well because I was one of the Army 'Riverines'.)

No-one, or at least no-one with any familiarity with history, can deny that the Marine Corps is an elite unit of very tough, superbly trained fighting men. They know it, too. Their pride in themselves is what sustains them in combat assaults in which they can expect to take 10% or more casualties *before* they get a chance to engage the enemy. Sometimes their high morale tends to become an 'attitude problem,' especially in peacetime. But it is America's enemies who find they have a problem with that attitude when war comes.