[Dundee]

I don't think that the USMC should get into the Special Ops side of the house. There is more than enough special ops units in the US forces without the Marines diverting resources away from what they do best ie. being Marines.

[taxcontrol]

I tend to agree. Consider the following:

Department of Defence

Delta Force (hostage rescue / commando unit)

Army

Special Forces (unconventional warfare) and Rangers (commando unit)

Navy

SEALs (commando unit)

Air Force

????? (not sure of the proper name - downed pilot rescue)

Add to this the special units from CIA and others not to be named, and you already have on the order of 30,000+ combat troops with over 150,000 support troops. I believe the problem of execution lies with the command structure. Most conventional officers do not know how to utilize or even command unconventional forces.

I would like to see all commando units organized out of the conventional forces as their own department. So along with the Dept of Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, you would add Dept of XXXX (commando, special forces, raiders, whatever).

I believe these units should be deployable at the discression of the President (like the Marines). Then, backed up by heavy units from the conventional forces if they need large force deployment.

An example would be deploying a commando unit to take out a target. CIA and Recon would conduct the initial target assessment. The commando units (SEAL & Ranger) would execute the attack. If the unit encounters heavy resistance and gets pinned down, the President could, then authorizes a Marine unit to hit the area. Air Rescue would then extract any pilots and Delta would try and recover any prisoners taken by the hostiles.

Just my .02

[johnny7]

I believe the Marine Raider concept was good in 1942 and would be good now.

Evans Carlson, “Red Mike” Edson and Lew Walt were great examples.

Marines are given the best training in our 4 branches of service.

But it takes a special individual to use a knife to kill his enemy... quietly.

The old Raider battalions had a lot of southern boys who knew how to shoot before they were weened.

They could sneak up on you from behind without stepping on a twig.

It was a good concept then... it's a good concept now.

[91whisky]

"The straight-laced marine officers despised special forces soldiers."

"On the other hand, SF considered the marines to be "a bunch of dumbasses that blunder around in the jungles and mountains like a herd of wild elephants and shoot each other in the ass more often than they shoot Sir Charles.”

Those quotes are from the book that I've read.