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View Full Version : MarSOC's creation could gut existing force recon units



marinefamily5
03-22-06, 09:11 PM
By Gidget Fuentes
Marine Corps Times staff writer

When it comes to big news happening in the Corps, nothing is bigger than the advent of its new spec ops force.

At the center of what's initially slated to be a 2,600-member command with sea-based forces is one of the most respected community of leathernecks since the Marine Raiders of World War II - force reconnaissance men.

Some believe the new Marine Corps Special Operations Command will help drive a resurgence of reconnaissance, which has seemed to endure more changes in its 60 years than battle uniforms.

Others fear it could hollow out a cadre of leathernecks many believe are the best of the best.

Their men - seasoned noncommissioned officers and lieutenants culled from the reconnaissance battalion ranks - get high levels of specialized training, more so than men in an infantry battalion. Formed into companies, force recon's doctrinal mission is to conduct amphibious reconnaissance, deep ground reconnaissance, surveillance, battle-space shaping and limited-scale raids in support of a Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine air-ground task force or joint force.

For its deep recon and direct-action missions, force recon requires a higher-caliber, more experienced team that can operate independently. Members are older and more senior than in a division recon unit, particularly since enlisted Marines must be at least an NCO - with corporals a rarity - to volunteer and screen for selection.

In essence, force recon Marines are the "eyes, ears and fists" beyond the front lines for the larger leatherneck combat force in a broader battlefield.

They are by no means a huge piece of the Marine Corps.

With fewer than 400 men, along with the roughly 1,600 recon-trained men assigned to division reconnaissance battalions, force recon is a tiny group within the infantry. But the depth of operational experience, expertise and training within its platoons is unmatched in the Corps. Many junior leathernecks see them as the "elite within the elite": tough men with cooler gear, better weapons and high-speed equipment.

Now, with the advent of MarSOC, it's all up in the air. Recon Marines who have followed the issue say force recon has either a bright future - or none at all.

"It's causing a total paradigm shift of thinking reconnaissance," said a senior reconnaissance officer, who asked that his name not be used. "There's an opportunity right now to be fully integrated [within SOCom] and be the first force of choice."

For years, from Vietnam jungles to Persian Gulf waters and Third World city streets, the Corps' small community of specialized force recon men and division recon units has operated in the background, with little glory or recognition of what they have accomplished, while fending off repeated attempts to change or weaken their structure.

And they're staying busy.

"In this new war, force recon is getting a lot of missions," said retired Sgt. Maj. James Dever, who spent 15 years of his 25-year career in reconnaissance, including time with 1st Force Reconnaissance Company. "They don't get a lot of the glory," unlike other service's special operations forces.

"But nobody is 'special' in the Marine Corps," Dever added, with a hint of sarcasm.

Retired Col. Bruce Meyers said he believes the new command could strengthen and solidify recon's place, especially in supporting expanded missions in the war on terrorism.

"Marine recon is now being recognized for its unique capabilities by more of the mainstream elements of our defense institutions," said Meyers, the Corps' first commander of 1st Force Reconnaissance Company.

But since its inception 50 years ago, Marine reconnaissance - especially force recon - has been reshaped, redesignated, morphed and merged with division units and then stood down.

A lack of support and understanding at the Corps' highest levels has frustrated experienced operators as they endured the changes.

Force recon grew from the legendary leatherneck amphibious assaults and raids of World War II's South Pacific island-hopping campaigns, expanded its deep-recon reach during the Cold War and today is the "eyes and ears" of Marine expeditionary force and Marine air-ground task force commanders.

It is rooted in daring, guts and bravery, starting with Meyers and the men of Test Unit 1 at Camp Pendleton, Calif., who, among other accomplishments, parachuted out of military jets. That unit became 1st Force Reconnaissance Company in 1957.

After multiple combat tours in Vietnam, force recon units were deactivated in 1974, with some deep-recon capability kept in division reconnaissance battalions.

In 1986, the Corps revived 1st Force Reconnaissance Company at Pendleton, restoring a deep-recon and direct-action capability for I Marine Expeditionary Force. The company conducted other specialized missions, including special reconnaissance, amphibious reconnaissance, close-quarters battle, airborne insertion, surveillance and maritime interdiction.

Despite integration of division and force recon units on the East Coast and in Japan, and subsequent splits into separate division and force recon units, the Pendleton company has remained apart from division's 1st Reconnaissance Battalion.

The constant changes to force recon and division recon may reflect an underlying, unspoken struggle with what reconnaissance is, and isn't.

"In general, Marine reconnaissance has been frightfully ill-employed," said a retired officer and former recon commander who asked that his name not be used. "A lot of the ground commanders don't appreciate what recon can do.

"Certainly, that was the case in the [1991 Persian] Gulf War. Marine recon never really went forward from the infantry when we invaded Kuwait," the officer said. "And I don't think things have changed a great deal."

After operating largely as a division maneuver battalion in Iraq in 2003, reconnaissance battalions in 2004 took on more spec-ops types of missions.

"It really comes down to what the commander … would want to do with those assets," he said.

He's uncertain what type of change is ahead, but added "perhaps in the long run, reconnaissance may grow."

Since the Corps started talking about sending Marines to the new spec-ops command, force recon Marines have always been the obvious choice.

"Reconnaissance Marines offer SOCom experienced, highly trained and mature combat veterans of hundreds of direct-action raids and ambushes," said Capt. Jeff Moore, an infantry officer serving as a reserve augmentee and force recon platoon commander in Iraq.

The modern-day force recon unit is perhaps one of the Corps' most senior and experienced group of warriors.

Those selected get on the long training road quickly. Individual training begins with airborne, combat diver and Survival-Evasion-Resistance-Escape training. It also includes specialized courses in demolition, military freefall, scout sniper, breaching, close-quarters battle, jumpmaster and helicopter rope-suspension training, among others. These can add up to 18 to 24 months of training before a force recon Marine begins training with his platoon for deployment.

But MarSOC's creation is forcing the Corps to expand the number of reconnaissance Marines, who draw the 0321 military occupational specialty after completing the basic reconnaissance course. About 40 reconnaissance men would conduct direct-action and special reconnaissance missions as part of a Marine special operations company, or MSOC, a 97- to 118-member company led by a major.

Plans call for nine companies to be formed under two battalions.

"The core of the MSOC is the 0321 Marine, the force reconnaissance Marine," said Brig. Gen. Dennis Hejlik, MarSOC's commander.

The Corps would build the capability for the companies from existing active-duty force reconnaissance companies. The companies provide platoons for deploying Marine expeditionary units.

The chance to take on spec ops missions - direct action, special reconnaissance, unconventional warfare and foreign internal defense, among them - has long appealed to force recon Marines. Some left the Corps out of frustration, joining Army Special Forces or becoming Navy SEALs to get in the spec ops game, a loss noted in 2001 when then-Commandant Gen. James Jones began pushing for inclusion into SOCom.

Existing force recon companies are undermanned but in big demand, which would pose a problem if the Corps doesn't reconstitute its force reconnaissance units with additional men.

While a force recon company has a headquarters platoon and six operational platoons, typically only five are manned, with the sixth serving as the training company. Platoons, split into six- or eight-man recon teams, usually are undermanned because of shortages of qualified reconnaissance men, Marines note.

The Corps could rid itself of force reconnaissance, as some have advocated, by shifting those billets into MarSOC, and, in turn, providing trained platoons to meet the needs of Corps MEF and MAGTF commanders.

Or it could fold force recon with division recon into reconnaissance battalions, which then would feed MarSOC and support division, MEF and other task force commanders.

Hejlik wouldn't say whether force recon would go away, noting that such decisions are made above his rank.

"It's a very sensitive issue, and I'm not going there," he said. "It is very sensitive because that's a great capability that is needed within the Marine Corps."

Existing working groups likely will redefine the kind of Marine who could meet the Corps' need to conduct battlefield reconnaissance or support MarSOC. Issues under study include training standards, although some issues, like a Reserve component, must still be decided.

Complicating shortfalls in force recon is the steady shortage in division recon battalions, which usually provide a small but steady flow of more-experienced 0321 Marines into force recon but remain about 25 percent short.

Adding yet another reason for experienced NCOs to leave a reconnaissance battalion for MarSOC would gut existing units, some fear.

Officials dismiss that likelihood, although that is one of the issues several working groups are tackling as MarSOC takes flight.

"The Marine Corps is going to dig in and see how we are going to continue to grow people," said Maj. Gabrielle Chapin, a Marine Corps headquarters spokeswoman.

"I know they're also looking at that reconnaissance battalion" to fill MarSOC, at least for now, Hejlik said. "Can you take that reconnaissance Marine, who is generally a younger Marine, and step him up in experience to fill that gap somewhat?" he asked rhetorically. He wants to fill MarSOC with "a good, solid, qualified Marine."

But that prospect unsettles some seasoned reconnaissance staff NCOs and officers.

"Every Marine is an inherently capable rifleman, but not everyone is an 0321," said a seasoned senior recon officer, who asked that his name not be used. Recon teams "go out with all their assets, whereas a rifle team does not. A recon team can go out for five days and operate on their own," he said. "You can't do that with an infantry platoon."

While many junior Marines might dream of going recon, not everyone will meet the standards, pass the physical tests and get through selection or screening. Combat veterans note that credible experience is critical and requires higher-level training.

"The force reconnaissance platoon brings capabilities exponentially larger than its size due to the maturity, experience and specialized skills and equipment of its Marines and sailors," said Moore, on his second combat tour in Iraq. His men have trained "to the highest standards in close-quarters battle and direct-action raid skills in the most realistic environments … to capitalize on fleeting opportunities to capture high-value insurgents with an amazing level of success."

Filling MarSOC billets won't be easy, say combat veterans, who note a basic tenet of special operations forces that quality commandos cannot be grown overnight from straight-leg infantrymen.

"The maturity level is high, and it's like night and day," said 1st Lt. Francisco Reyes, a former staff sergeant and team leader with 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company in Iraq who's done tours in the regular infantry, division recon and force recon. "What it requires is a whole different atmosphere. The ability to think on their own is not there. In force, it is, and it's at a much deeper level."

"Special forces cannot be mass-produced. It takes a long time to build that mentality," Reyes said, noting a laundry list of schools, courses and predeployment training.

"It takes a long time just training the guy, and he doesn't even have experience in the field."

"The bottom line is that to give him that experience, it's going to take two to three years," said a senior recon officer, noting that the subsequent concern will be "keeping them in."

Since 2003, active-duty force recon companies and platoons have integrated with reservists for training and combat operations in Iraq. It is unclear what would happen to the two Reserve force recon companies if force recon is absorbed into MarSOC. Recon units in the Reserve include scores of highly trained, experienced and combat-proven infantry and reconnaissance men, whose presence could add more muscle to the growing command, several reservists say.

"Reserve reconnaissance platoons have fought, bled and died alongside their active-duty brothers during every [Iraq] deployment," Moore said.

He said that both 1st Force and 2nd Force companies have relied on augmentations from reservists, including 3rd Force, for combat deployments, and he hopes to see force recon reservists included in MarSOC.

Some veteran recon Marines see the new command as an opportunity to rejuvenate force recon. Meyers, an attorney in Washington state, calls the expansion of recon into SOCom "a positive thing."

MarSOC "has the effect of institutionalizing many of the ideas many of us recon Marines have expressed in the past, as far back as the '50s and '60s," said Meyers, whose book, "Fortune Favors the Brave," details the road to establishing reconnaissance and force recon. In those days, he said, "We had instituted formal liaison on such major projects," including high-altitude parachute and submarine operations.

But he's realistic, too. "In the short haul, it's going to put a maximum strain on existing units. It will require massive increases in specialized training allotments," he said.

"The priority," he added, "must be to prevent loss of operational capacity within existing units."

Other recon veterans believe MarSOC might help move recon away from the "stepchild" handling it has gotten from the Corps over the years, and give it the respect and value they say has been lacking from some leadership.

Some see trouble looming.

"The road to MarSOC is filled with potholes," said Steven Greer, a retired Army Special Forces sergeant major, a professor at American Military University and a National Defense Council fellow.

Greer likens force recon's core competencies to Army long-range surveillance units, which he said historically are tasked with deep reconnaissance but aren't part of Army SOC.

The new command "may eventually lead to the Corps' diminution of capabilities, mission and relevance," said Greer, who has tracked the Corps' entry into SOCom.

"The intent was to fill MarSOC billets with force recon personnel, a pool of warriors serving in undermanned force recon companies," he said. "This requires slicing all force recon support away from deployed Marine units.

"The Marine Corps is already finding it difficult to maintain forward deployed MEU(SOC)s as it cannibalizes itself to send troops into Iraq," he said. "This may indeed spell the end of the MEU(SOC) entirely. The Marine Corps is driving itself to the brink of its own extinction, and force recon will soon die."