Elite Marine Unit to Help Fight Terrorism
2 Nov. Washington Post - Elite Marine Unit to Help Fight Terrorism. Excerpt:
"Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday announced creation of a force of about 2,600 highly specialized Marines intended to address a shortage of elite troops available for counterterrorist operations and other missions requiring exceptional skills."
"But in a marked departure for the fiercely self-reliant Corps, the new contingent will report not to the Marine leadership but to the multi-service command responsible for other Special Operations troops."
"The move follows months of difficult negotiations between the Marines and Special Operations community. For years, the Marine Corps has resisted joining the Army, Navy and Air Force in ceding permanent control of a segment of its forces to Special Operations Command, known as Socom..."
SOcom marines a plus to us.
Knowing the marines, and corpsman firsthand gives you a different Idea on how you look at this situation. The army, air force, and Seal units have been getting much better funding than their marine brothers have been. I think its about time for these professionals actually get the cut. The Reconnaisance community, forever has been doing the same job as the other branches, with out the money, the publicity and pull that other units get. I went trough ARS, and let me tell you what. The instructors are phenominal. Down right professionals. This one Captain explained to the studs there that if it were his choice as the XO, he'd have the training expanded to where he could have realtime training With the tools and time to properly train these recon marines. Yet they get the job done in 11 weeks and do a damn good job at it. As time's are now these marines go practically straight to war. fighting along with other socom units. But are not referred to the Socom community. Now all of this happening, is to me a good thing. It means maybe someone will wake up and see how these boys are being starved of the right equipment to do the same job as any other operator, and with a 1/4 of the training. I hope to see more funding come our way. If the Marines that are sour about losing thier 0321's then maybe you should have shown some more respect by giving them the up to date gear, and training that you were sending them down range to do.
Understood, but not my point...
The old paradigms of FID and SOF have changed and we have to keep up and not just assume it is business as usual - but on a global and consistent scale.
I fully understand the points raised here concerning FID as an integral part of SPECOPS and agree.
Still, there is not enough SOF to conduct all the traditional missions on a global basis. My suggestion was that conventional forces (USMC in this instance) take over the “less snake-eater” missions (training for one) while SOF continues to do what it does best. Under a JTF, and if well-planned and executed, this relationship could be codified and appropriate doctrine, TO&E, and TTP established.
All that said, it is a moot point. A USMC conference next week will hammer out the details on this done deal. As a good Marines, the USMC will salute sharply and carry out the new mission to the best of it's capabilities. Our nation will not be disappointed...