marinefamily5
05-18-05, 07:56 PM
Military mum on fate of Marine commandos
By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer
Even as the two-year trial period for the Marine Corps' new special operations unit winds down, military officials remain tight-lipped about whether Detachment One, as it is known, will join the ranks of America's elite forces alongside the Army's Green Berets and the Navy's SEALs.
The 86-man unit, formed at Camp Pendleton in June of 2003 and which later trained at Coronado Naval Amphibious Base, was deployed in April 2004 to Iraq for a combat trial under the provisional command of the unified U.S. Special Operations Command.
The military has so far refused to comment on how or what the 81 Marines and five Navy Corpsmen of Detachment One performed in the field.
And since the unit returned to San Diego late last year, military officials have refused to say whether Detachment One will survive or ever formally join the world of special operations.
"Nothing is releasable on that yet," the special operations spokesman, Ken McGraw, said in response to a recent request for an update on the Marine detachment.
That was the same terse response recently given by Marine Corps officials and the spokesman for the Navy's special warfare command at Coronado, where Detachment One was trained.
One reason for the secrecy is that the unit's future is at the heart of an emotional debate over who controls what in the military, said Jay Farrar, a former Marine officer and military analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The debate boils down to whether the Marine Corps should formally join the special operations community or merely continue contributing to joint operations on an ad hoc basis as it has in Afghanistan, Eastern Europe and, most recently, Iraq, Farrar said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
The already lean Corps wants to maintain formal control of its troops and equipment, especially its aircraft for close air support, but continue to lend forces to joint missions, he said
"It's not about capabilities," Farrar said, adding that the Marine Corps has worked well with other special operations forces all over the world. "It's the jurisdiction."
The special operations command, based in Tampa, Fla., was formed in the late 1980s and includes units from every service but the Marine Corps.
The Army provided Special Forces, Delta Force, Rangers, specialized helicopter units, psychological operations and civil affairs teams. The Navy contributed the SEALs and other special maritime units. And the Air Force created its helicopter and AC-130 gunship squadrons equipped for the special operations team.
While the Marine Corps refused to contribute more than a handful of staff officers, it restructured some of its force to fit the special operations mold and participate in joint operations when needed.
Since then, the war on terror and ongoing counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq have put a strain on existing special operations forces, and the Marines have been under increasing pressure to formally contribute to the elite global command.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has insisted that the military become lighter and more agile to fight non-state forces such as terrorists, has emphasized special operations and joint missions and is pushing Marine officials to join the special operations command, military analysts say.
Recent missions in Iraq have only hardened the Marines insistence that it not relinquish control of its best troops to the joint command, Farrar said.
"In their view, the Marines are saying: 'We can't afford to give these people up. If you take these units now, then we won't have use of them when we get a special mission, as we often do.' "
He said the Marine Corps was not being "obstructionist," but based its position on the need to remain flexible.
While Detachment One may have passed muster in Iraq, Farrar said he still doubts the Marines would want to join the special operations command.
Recent comments by top Marine brass seem to bear him out.
Lt. Gen. Wallace Gregson, commander of all Marine forces in the Pacific, said the debate over including the Marines in the larger group is more about control of budgets and political control than about the capability of the Marines to perform.
"There is a high degree of emotion on all sides of this issue," Gregson said in a recent article in the journal Sea Power.
Gregson, whose command includes Detachment One, said he believed the Marines can integrate with the special operations command without relinquishing control over the Corps' newest elite unit. He said the Corps could provide a unit for the joint mission, on condition that the Corps gets it back.
"They (Detachment One) brought a unique task organization over there, and they showed how, in all aspects of organization, very highly selected and very highly trained units like that can be of great value," Gregson, said, according to the April edition of Sea Power. "That's a mirror to the Marine Corps' approach to warfare in general. ... Tell us what capabilities you want, what kind of unit you want, and we'll provide."
Marine Corps Commandant Michael Hagee, in another article in Sea Power, echoed Gregson and said he prefers the status quo, which he said worked well during the U.S. assault on Fallujah in November.
Our "relationship between SOCOM and the Marine Corps in-theatre ---- Iraq, Afghanistan ---- is really, really good," he said. "It is seamless now; it is essentially an integrated force."
Hagee, according to the journal, hinted that Detachment One would be around for awhile, at least, and would be available for future special operations missions.
"We are going to provide those capabilities that Gen. Brown needs," Hagee said of the special operations commander, Gen. Doug Brown. "If they need a capability such as Detachment One, that capability is going to go to them, and they will use that capability."
By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer
Even as the two-year trial period for the Marine Corps' new special operations unit winds down, military officials remain tight-lipped about whether Detachment One, as it is known, will join the ranks of America's elite forces alongside the Army's Green Berets and the Navy's SEALs.
The 86-man unit, formed at Camp Pendleton in June of 2003 and which later trained at Coronado Naval Amphibious Base, was deployed in April 2004 to Iraq for a combat trial under the provisional command of the unified U.S. Special Operations Command.
The military has so far refused to comment on how or what the 81 Marines and five Navy Corpsmen of Detachment One performed in the field.
And since the unit returned to San Diego late last year, military officials have refused to say whether Detachment One will survive or ever formally join the world of special operations.
"Nothing is releasable on that yet," the special operations spokesman, Ken McGraw, said in response to a recent request for an update on the Marine detachment.
That was the same terse response recently given by Marine Corps officials and the spokesman for the Navy's special warfare command at Coronado, where Detachment One was trained.
One reason for the secrecy is that the unit's future is at the heart of an emotional debate over who controls what in the military, said Jay Farrar, a former Marine officer and military analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The debate boils down to whether the Marine Corps should formally join the special operations community or merely continue contributing to joint operations on an ad hoc basis as it has in Afghanistan, Eastern Europe and, most recently, Iraq, Farrar said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
The already lean Corps wants to maintain formal control of its troops and equipment, especially its aircraft for close air support, but continue to lend forces to joint missions, he said
"It's not about capabilities," Farrar said, adding that the Marine Corps has worked well with other special operations forces all over the world. "It's the jurisdiction."
The special operations command, based in Tampa, Fla., was formed in the late 1980s and includes units from every service but the Marine Corps.
The Army provided Special Forces, Delta Force, Rangers, specialized helicopter units, psychological operations and civil affairs teams. The Navy contributed the SEALs and other special maritime units. And the Air Force created its helicopter and AC-130 gunship squadrons equipped for the special operations team.
While the Marine Corps refused to contribute more than a handful of staff officers, it restructured some of its force to fit the special operations mold and participate in joint operations when needed.
Since then, the war on terror and ongoing counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq have put a strain on existing special operations forces, and the Marines have been under increasing pressure to formally contribute to the elite global command.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has insisted that the military become lighter and more agile to fight non-state forces such as terrorists, has emphasized special operations and joint missions and is pushing Marine officials to join the special operations command, military analysts say.
Recent missions in Iraq have only hardened the Marines insistence that it not relinquish control of its best troops to the joint command, Farrar said.
"In their view, the Marines are saying: 'We can't afford to give these people up. If you take these units now, then we won't have use of them when we get a special mission, as we often do.' "
He said the Marine Corps was not being "obstructionist," but based its position on the need to remain flexible.
While Detachment One may have passed muster in Iraq, Farrar said he still doubts the Marines would want to join the special operations command.
Recent comments by top Marine brass seem to bear him out.
Lt. Gen. Wallace Gregson, commander of all Marine forces in the Pacific, said the debate over including the Marines in the larger group is more about control of budgets and political control than about the capability of the Marines to perform.
"There is a high degree of emotion on all sides of this issue," Gregson said in a recent article in the journal Sea Power.
Gregson, whose command includes Detachment One, said he believed the Marines can integrate with the special operations command without relinquishing control over the Corps' newest elite unit. He said the Corps could provide a unit for the joint mission, on condition that the Corps gets it back.
"They (Detachment One) brought a unique task organization over there, and they showed how, in all aspects of organization, very highly selected and very highly trained units like that can be of great value," Gregson, said, according to the April edition of Sea Power. "That's a mirror to the Marine Corps' approach to warfare in general. ... Tell us what capabilities you want, what kind of unit you want, and we'll provide."
Marine Corps Commandant Michael Hagee, in another article in Sea Power, echoed Gregson and said he prefers the status quo, which he said worked well during the U.S. assault on Fallujah in November.
Our "relationship between SOCOM and the Marine Corps in-theatre ---- Iraq, Afghanistan ---- is really, really good," he said. "It is seamless now; it is essentially an integrated force."
Hagee, according to the journal, hinted that Detachment One would be around for awhile, at least, and would be available for future special operations missions.
"We are going to provide those capabilities that Gen. Brown needs," Hagee said of the special operations commander, Gen. Doug Brown. "If they need a capability such as Detachment One, that capability is going to go to them, and they will use that capability."