Posted on 09/30/2001 2:28:55 PM PDT by 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 nations most elite special operations team, but its position as a member of the the Armys 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 services 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. MEUs, 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. Its been in place so long now that a lot of the flag officers grew up with this-theyre Al Grays boys, said one Marine special operations veteran. Thats 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 dont 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.
Gyrenes, do you think we can keep this thread going until our birthday party?
W's quote is priceless. It's a fantastic paradigm shift from the Toon's fleckless policy.
Btw...I'm still not sure where this author, Sue Lacky, is coming from. The USMC is stellar! But, is she slighting the other "SpecOPs" forces?
Maybe I'm reading it wrong. Best FReegards.
That's more meaningful than any statement of his upcoming a$$-whuppin than I could have come up with, for sure!!
We (MACS-2, MASS-2 DET-A) got to bodysurf it all there, and the lifeguards wouldn't come out to where we were! Once, one did, thought we were struggling, then came out on his board, then saw who it was, and apologized! "Oh, it's you guys, sorry..."
I only got recognized for 'saving' someone once when it was a Marine Officer, and she was just out doing the tourist thing on her boogie board outside of Turtle Rock! She was fine, just out a while, her friends were freaking out, we went out to find her, she was on her way back in, and we met her and escorted her back. The Base O.D. was there, PMO was there, they launched a SAR bird to look for her, we got letters signed by the General, the COL from the MAG, and our C.O., it was kewel!
Semper Fi!
It doesn't matter if it's "right" or "good" or even (god forbid) "enlightened", it just is!
Semper Fi and Let's Roll!
MCAS Kaneohe 83-86
Aloha my friend
I'm still doing the same thing only as a govt contractor now. Get to work in the spaces with the Marines.
Most of the fun with none of the BS :)
Semper Fi!
The bass player in my Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band is a Marine (reservist). I am extremely proud of him, and proud to know him.
MACS-2 is gone, too, all my old buildings are a hazmat storage area, and the top of the hill? The Golf Balls (Geodesic domes) are fenced off, no entry!
Incidently, British Marines, some of whose uniforms are remarkably similar to some of those ofUS Marines, are called Bootnecks, IIRC.
Now we might get a bit carried away with it, but we do know that taking care of the troops will help keep 'em flying. As an LT, non flying type, I served a couple of stints as operations duty officer, aka "Peter the Greeter". The one serious duty of that position was to eat one or more meals in the dining hall, to be certain that the troops were being properly fed in the proper environment.
Everybody has/her part to play in the coming festivities. An example, the guy in the office next to mine is a retired KC-10 crew chief. He has a medallian on his desk with the letters TAKDSUFIT (approximately), which stands for "The Ass Kicking Doesn't Start Until the Fuel Is Transferred". All have a job, all can take pride in it.
My contributions, for example, take place well before the shooting starts. Everytime I see an aircraft with one of "my" TF radars on it, I swell up (and choke up too) and say, "That's one of MY birds". Additionally, I know there are AWACS weapons controllers and maybe some sensor techs being deployed who trained on the simulator I helped design and build. Yeah it's not much, but its mine.
I AM AN EXTREMIST, and darn proud of it!
86-90, CamLej. Bn Sec Team...
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