Marine Special Operations Command (2)
Nov 1st 2005MichaelMarine Corps
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) — Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Monday approved the creation of a new branch of special operations forces composed of U.S. Marines.
This will help the guys get better equipment. I hope it does not make them feel like they are special.
MARSOC headquarters will be organized at Camp LeJeune, N.C., where the Marine Corps has already been standing up a foreign military training unit. That effort will be wrapped into the new organization. Training foreign militaries is one of the primary functions of special forces units across the services.
MARSOC will be headed by Brig. Gen. Dennis Hejlik.
For the first time since the establishment of U.S. Special Operations Command, the Marine Corps has been given the go-ahead to establish a unit to deploy alongside Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces and Air Force Special Tactics units for commando missions.
I bet this was a hard choice to make.
“We finally came to the realization that unless we were a full partner in U.S. Special Operations Command we probably weren’t making maximum use of the Marine Corps’ capabilities.”
That is true, the Marine Corps capabilites are there to support the Marine Operations.
2 Comments »
2 Responses to “Marine Special Operations Command (2)”
Raven on 02 Nov 2005 at 17:30 #
I didn’t realize you even had the same title. ROTF that’s funny as hell.
Jack Webb on 21 Jan 2006 at 22:33 #
Bad idea. A better idea would have been to expand the existing Force Recon Companies. The thing looks pure political. 2,600 “elite” Marines operating independently from the infantry in the already elite Corps?
I don’t think so. I also checked out the biography of the designated Commander. He has indeed, a good deal of good experience but little if any (other than political) for this type of operation.
As a Brigadier General he undoubtedly is going to be outranked by the other services in “joint” operations. He will in fact take orders from Army before things are done if he isn’t already.
Other than this latest generation of Generals and probably some people in Force Recon does anyone, anyone with any experience with the Marines at all believe it is an OK thing to earmark 2,600 infantry type troops, including support, to be shunted off while infantry companies operate under strength? I mean isn’t it a little bit much to have 2,600 people out of only about 180,000 to be “special.”
Chalk this venture up to another one that will barely get off the ground and have a very short life mainly consisting of long meetings and “planning.” Supported by lip service. It will crash and burn long before the five or six years it is supposed to take before this thing is up and running.
The Marines are an elite group already and always have been. Those Generals that are allowing this to happen should remember they are nothing more than caretakers entrusted to maintain the continuity of a great Marine Corp and its tradition. If they can handle it. Not screw around back there in Washington in an attempt to make another star by using proven Marine Corps tradition as a pawn, or if they already have four become a “living legend.”