Military Times finally completed their 5 part series on Task Force Violent (the "MARSOC 7") and events that involved MARSOC Foxtrot Company in 2006 (Afghanistan). Pretty interesting read. Politics both inside and outside the Corps along
with media that was hungry for a rebirth of the Vietnam era "baby killer" meme resulted in an entire company of Marines being dishonored and tried for doing exactly the right thing. Same media pretty much skipped the Board of Inquiry that cleared the unit. Pretty interesting and extremely irritating.
http://www.militarytimes.com/longform/military/2015/03/04/task-force-violent-the-unforgiven/23940295/
I find it very interesting to get this level of background on what was touted as a "war crime" in 2006. It is also really interesting to get some background on the politics inside of the military.
A bit of background (some of which is covered in the 5 part series). The USMC has an integral special operations force called "Force Reconnaissance" or "Force RECON". RECON Marines are highly trained in land and subsurface warfare. RECON Marines and SEALS are the only special forces capable of performing hydrographic surveys (surveys of beaches and coastal areas to determine how best to transit same).
Force RECON was established in 1957 to continue the traditions of the "scouts and raiders" groups from WW2. During the initial phases of the GWOT, the DoD wanted additional Special Operations forces and the USMC sent one Company of RECON Marines for deployment and evaluation in 2003. By 2005, SOCOM and the USMC had determined that the RECON operators were more than up to the SpecOp tasks and MARSOC (USMC Special Operations Command) was formed. This came with a lot of politics. The US Army Special Forces did not want the Navy to participate in land warfare (SEALs). The US Navy, after fighting that battle, did not want the USMC to move their operators to SOCOM. Finally, the Generals in the Marine Corps did not want their elite troops shipped off to SOCOM. However, MARSOC became official in 2006 and most of the Force RECON personnel were shipped off to same.
After the move to SOCOM, the MARSOC Marines took the name "Raider Regiment". That regiment is based (primarily) at Camp LeJeune and consists of roughly 2,500 men broken into three battalions and one headquarters company.
A couple of other notes:
After MARSOC was formed, the USMC immediately went to work to reform Force RECON. There are currently three active Force RECON companies serving with Marine units (First Marine Division, Second Marine Division and First Marine MEU).
SOCOM is the overall Special Operations Command of the DoD. It was established in 1995 and owns special operations forces from the various military groups. JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) was established in 1980 after the Desert One/Operation Eagle Claw debacle (Iran hostage rescue attempt). JSOC owns Delta Force (US Army Special Forces Detachment Delta), SEAL Team Six (Naval Special Warfare Development Group or DEVGRU), 75th Ranger Regiment Regimental Recon Company, USAF 24th Special Tactics Squadron and something called the Intelligence Support Activity (the "Activity). SOCOM sort of owns JSOC. Sort of. Some days not so much.
Enjoy!
This post was edited on 4/6 3:40 PM by old_goat_23
with media that was hungry for a rebirth of the Vietnam era "baby killer" meme resulted in an entire company of Marines being dishonored and tried for doing exactly the right thing. Same media pretty much skipped the Board of Inquiry that cleared the unit. Pretty interesting and extremely irritating.
http://www.militarytimes.com/longform/military/2015/03/04/task-force-violent-the-unforgiven/23940295/
I find it very interesting to get this level of background on what was touted as a "war crime" in 2006. It is also really interesting to get some background on the politics inside of the military.
A bit of background (some of which is covered in the 5 part series). The USMC has an integral special operations force called "Force Reconnaissance" or "Force RECON". RECON Marines are highly trained in land and subsurface warfare. RECON Marines and SEALS are the only special forces capable of performing hydrographic surveys (surveys of beaches and coastal areas to determine how best to transit same).
Force RECON was established in 1957 to continue the traditions of the "scouts and raiders" groups from WW2. During the initial phases of the GWOT, the DoD wanted additional Special Operations forces and the USMC sent one Company of RECON Marines for deployment and evaluation in 2003. By 2005, SOCOM and the USMC had determined that the RECON operators were more than up to the SpecOp tasks and MARSOC (USMC Special Operations Command) was formed. This came with a lot of politics. The US Army Special Forces did not want the Navy to participate in land warfare (SEALs). The US Navy, after fighting that battle, did not want the USMC to move their operators to SOCOM. Finally, the Generals in the Marine Corps did not want their elite troops shipped off to SOCOM. However, MARSOC became official in 2006 and most of the Force RECON personnel were shipped off to same.
After the move to SOCOM, the MARSOC Marines took the name "Raider Regiment". That regiment is based (primarily) at Camp LeJeune and consists of roughly 2,500 men broken into three battalions and one headquarters company.
A couple of other notes:
After MARSOC was formed, the USMC immediately went to work to reform Force RECON. There are currently three active Force RECON companies serving with Marine units (First Marine Division, Second Marine Division and First Marine MEU).
SOCOM is the overall Special Operations Command of the DoD. It was established in 1995 and owns special operations forces from the various military groups. JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) was established in 1980 after the Desert One/Operation Eagle Claw debacle (Iran hostage rescue attempt). JSOC owns Delta Force (US Army Special Forces Detachment Delta), SEAL Team Six (Naval Special Warfare Development Group or DEVGRU), 75th Ranger Regiment Regimental Recon Company, USAF 24th Special Tactics Squadron and something called the Intelligence Support Activity (the "Activity). SOCOM sort of owns JSOC. Sort of. Some days not so much.
Enjoy!
This post was edited on 4/6 3:40 PM by old_goat_23
