Recon Vs. Infantry

[Smitty Puffs]

Marine,Fist has been around a block or two in his time.

Im aware Sergeant. Im smart enough to know to check someone profile. Thats why I never called him "private" or anything like that. I know he's salty.

[Finger]

Im aware Sergeant. Im smart enough to know to check someone profile. Thats why I never called him "private" or anything like that. I know he's salty.

Ahhhhh Fist is just a Boot

S/F
Finger

[MLMonk]

Is MarSOC Recon? Don't mean to hijack the thread but we are on a "better then infantry" type subject.

Read in the Marine Times that MarSOC is open to ALL MOS's, as long as you meet the requirements of a NCO, 270+PFT (Recommended), 2nd swim qual, and a GT 105, also the mental/security screening.

[Finger]

Yes there are special requirments for Recon and especially Force that are all mission related, but I would never say "better than infantry". Same mud, same blood.

S/F
Finger

[MLMonk]

Alright, thanks 1st Sergeant. Was a bit confused since in the newspaper it said a Recon Marine was trying out for MarSOC.

And I put quotations around that just to say they are slightly more trained, I understand they shed the same blood.

[Pete0331]

Is MarSOC Recon? Don't mean to hijack the thread but we are on a "better then infantry" type subject.

Initially MarSOC was manned by Marines and Navy primarily from the Recon community.
Now it is open to everyone.

Special Recon is still one of their missions.

[Alisium]

One thing I will say, is that I think the Reconnaissance Marines and those of that ilk (S.S et al) have a better life than the regular Infantry Marine.

At least from my experience with 4th LAR, I like working in smaller more independent groups much better than a regular line company. Much less bs and micromanagement.

I could only imagine it's similar or better in a reconnaissance unit.

[FistFu68]

After all what is a Scout Sniper,but a glorified Rifleman(lol),L/CPL. 1 day we will sit down @ hoist a few Brewski's then @ maybe only then I can let You in on a little Secret Squirrel stuff,but if I told You what We where really all about on the Internet,afterwards I'd have 2 kill YA

[rg2o3]

rg203,

It all started in WW2 with the Amphib Recon units. They did a mission very similar to the Navy UDT units in reconing and clearing beaches for the Infantry to land. They mostly worked from submarines. That is still part of the mission. Bn Recon for years supported the Divisions with this work and also distant reconnaissance and intel gathering. Force Recon came much later and was made for deep reconnaissance. That is why they were also Airborne/Halo qualed. The current units do all kinds of missions to support the Marine Corps, the other services and now also the SPECOP community. That is about it in a nutshell. Hard charging Marines with a special combat support role.

S/F
Finger

Thank you, that cleared it up a lot!

[Smitty Puffs]

After all what is a Scout Sniper,but a glorified Rifleman(lol),L/CPL. 1 day we will sit down @ hoist a few Brewski's then @ maybe only then I can let You in on a little Secret Squirrel stuff,but if I told You what We where really all about on the Internet,afterwards I'd have 2 kill YA

haha roger that fist.

[jcarter73]

Reconnaissance Creed

Realizing it is my choice and my choice alone to be a Reconnaissance Marine, I accept all challenges involved with this profession. Forever shall I strive to maintain the tremendous reputation of those who went before me.

Exceeding beyond the limitations set down by others shall be my goal. Sacrificing personal comforts and dedicating myself to the completion of the reconnaissance mission shall be my life. Physical fitness, mental attitude, and high ethics -- The title of Recon Marine is my honor.

Conquering all obstacles, both large and small, I shall never quit. To quit, to surrender, to give up is to fail. To be a Recon Marine is to surpass failure; To overcome, to adapt and to do whatever it takes to complete the mission.

On the battlefield, as in all areas of life, I shall stand tall above the competition. Through professional pride, integrity, and teamwork, I shall be the example for all Marines to emulate.

Never shall I forget the principles I accepted to become a Recon Marine. Honor, Perseverance, Spirit and Heart.

A Recon Marine can speak without saying a word and achieve what others can only imagine.

My Nephew is a Force Recon Operator with 3rd Recon in Okinawa... They are held to a higher standard in every regard than the rest of the 03 community period.

BRC is no joke... they drop about 60% of the class each class... are they any better than the rest of us? I think they are... don't hate on them, admire them and strive to be as good as they are.

[SGT7477]

Im aware Sergeant. Im smart enough to know to check someone profile. Thats why I never called him "private" or anything like that. I know he's salty.

Fist is the man.

[RVHall]

I was 2533. I trained with Delta Co 5th Recon, at Camp Pendleton in 67. Ite was the most fun I had in the Corps. The Amphib Recon school at Coronado was incredible fun. THEN, I got to choose between Recon and ANGLICO in Vietnam. I picked ANGLICO, it sounded interesting. That wasn't fun, but I made lifelong friends and all of the career guys now say it was the best unit they served with in the Corps. I think they mean by that, they liked it the best. Lot's of independence, NCO's with the responsibility of officers in other services. In fact, in Nam, there are many examples of ANGLICO teams (a Cpl and a LCpl or two Cpls) controlling the battlefield, and even refusing orders from an officer (non-Marine) who didn't fully understand what he was requesting. They all stepped up to the task at hand.

S/F

Vance Hall, 1st ANGLICO SU-1, Det 5, 1967-68

My experience with Recon was a long time ago, 1960's, Vietnam. I was with the Bravo 1/3 point FO team. I was the radio operator, and the team was four men, radio and forward observer, both of us cross-trained to do each other's jobs, and two (later it was upped to four, a full fire team) 0311's to provide cover.

One day the Skipper and someone with oak leaves came up to us and said 'go with them', so off we went with Recon. We were all blooded shooters by that time, with plenty of combat experience, and time in the bush, so there was not much difference at all, except that Recon had much higher standards of fire discipline, and were much quieter, due to the fact that we only had reinforced squad strength, and our mission was to snoop and poop, and direct artillery fire without giving our presence up to the bad guys, who had us way outnumbered.

I was a 2533, and knew Morse Code, and was crypto qualified, and our FO was ANGLICO, and knew how to handle the big Navy Guns, like the New Jersey, so we got to go on some interesting ops.

We remained working with Recon and some other smaller units, Navy, LDNN, ARVN, ROK, etc., after 1/3 stood down and returned to the States.

The Recon and Navy people were good folks, and so were the LDNN and ROK, but the ARVN was pretty scary, a real cluster-foxtrot.

[WalkingMan]

I was 2533. I trained with Delta Co 5th Recon, at Camp Pendleton in 67. Ite was the most fun I had in the Corps. The Amphib Recon school at Coronado was incredible fun. THEN, I got to choose between Recon and ANGLICO in Vietnam. I picked ANGLICO, it sounded interesting. That wasn't fun, but I made lifelong friends and all of the career guys now say it was the best unit they served with in the Corps. I think they mean by that, they liked it the best. Lot's of independence, NCO's with the responsibility of officers in other services. In fact, in Nam, there are many examples of ANGLICO teams (a Cpl and a LCpl or two Cpls) controlling the battlefield, and even refusing orders from an officer (non-Marine) who didn't fully understand what he was requesting. They all stepped up to the task at hand.

S/F

Vance Hall, 1st ANGLICO SU-1, Det 5, 1967-68

Good to meet you!

I wish I had the chance to go through those schools too, but getting the OJT was a good thing for me... I got to do some real operating in the field, which lead to my remaining with the grunts for my entire service, part of which was as an OCS instructor at Quantico.

I was much happier being out under the stars, than I would have been working in a comm center.

You are right about the amount of freedom and authority we had, directing arty and air support as forward observers... as an E4, we were making decisions that I only later realised were way above our pay grades.

I especially remember controlling fire from 'On Rushes', the 16 inch guns of the New Jersey... holy crap! what power, in the hands of a 20 year old kid from Chicago.

This page of images might interest you:

http://robertwittig.org/team.html

Semper Fi!

[Petz]

is this discussion really continuing? wow... there's a lot going on here.