thedrifter
07-25-08, 05:51 AM
Hejlik passes flag to Robeson
Comments 0 | Recommend 0
July 25, 2008 - 12:45AM
JENNIFER HLAD
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Two years and five months to the day after Maj. Gen. Dennis Hejlik became the first commander of Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, the man who helped shape the unit passed the flag to his friend of 33 years, Maj. Gen. Mastin Robeson.
MarSOC started in late 2005 with just four people in a trailer in Quantico, Hejlik told a crowd gathered in front of the II Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters building Thursday morning. The command was activated Feb. 24, 2006, during a ceremony at Camp Lejeune, officially entering the Marines into the U.S. Special Operations Forces. Now, MarSOC is nearly 2,000 strong and is slated to reach 2,500 Marines and sailors by Oct. 1.
Adm. Eric Olson, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, said MarSOC has conducted 51 operational deployments in 16 different countries - including 32 deployments so far this year. The unit is scheduled to be fully operations capable Oct. 1.
"Organizations, like people, need time to mature," Olson told the crowd.
The first two years were "not without challenge, not without mishap, not without mistake," Olson said, but Hejlik and the Marines and sailors of MarSOC should be proud of their work.
"You have served your first commanding general well, as you have been served well by him," Olson told the Marines and sailors.
When the unit was formed, some in the military and special operations community opposed the idea of having a Marine Corps special operations force. But that culture has shifted, Hejlik said in an interview after the ceremony.
"I don't hear that anymore," he said, but if he does run into a skeptic, he explains why MarSOC is necessary.
"I say, listen, the world has changed. It's an asymmetric world, like it or not. It's unconventional warfare. The enemy doesn't fight fair," Hejlik said.
The command's first company-level deployment, of Marine Special Operations Company-F, ended early when the company was ordered by Army commanders to leave Afghanistan after two incidents in early March 2007. Witnesses at a court of inquiry into those incidents testified there was friction between the Marine unit and other special operations groups, and that the company did not have adequate support.
Thursday, Hejlik called the perception of friction between MarSOC and U.S. Special Operations Command "bunk."
"There just is not (friction)," he said. "Cooperation and coordination ... has never been better."
MarSOC also has grown and changed during Hejlik's time at the helm, including reorganization from nine special operations companies to eight, while adding more support jobs. He called the process "adventure learning."
"Nobody's really done this before," he said. "We've adjusted as we've gone along."
Recruitment has also changed. The first year, Hejlik and now-retired Sgt. Maj. Matthew Ingram, then the sergeant major of MarSOC, spent a lot of time on the road recruiting, Hejlik said. Now the command has a recruiting team, and the process is going extremely well, he said.
But Hejlik reiterated a theme that has dominated his presentations about MarSOC - that the Marines and sailors of MarSOC are Marines or sailors first and foremost. Operators return to "mother Marine Corps" after five years in the special operations realm, while support and maintenance personnel, as well as field-grade officers, return after a three-year tour.
"If you like to deploy a lot, then come on to MarSOC," Hejlik said.
Robeson, who met Hejlik when the two were second lieutenants in the mid-1970s, said his friend has "set the standard" at MarSOC.
"There's not a job in the Marine Corps I would rather have today," Robeson said.
Contact interactive content editor Jennifer Hlad at jhlad@freedomenc.com or 910-219-8467. Visit www.jdnews.com to comment on this report.
Ellie
Comments 0 | Recommend 0
July 25, 2008 - 12:45AM
JENNIFER HLAD
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Two years and five months to the day after Maj. Gen. Dennis Hejlik became the first commander of Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, the man who helped shape the unit passed the flag to his friend of 33 years, Maj. Gen. Mastin Robeson.
MarSOC started in late 2005 with just four people in a trailer in Quantico, Hejlik told a crowd gathered in front of the II Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters building Thursday morning. The command was activated Feb. 24, 2006, during a ceremony at Camp Lejeune, officially entering the Marines into the U.S. Special Operations Forces. Now, MarSOC is nearly 2,000 strong and is slated to reach 2,500 Marines and sailors by Oct. 1.
Adm. Eric Olson, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, said MarSOC has conducted 51 operational deployments in 16 different countries - including 32 deployments so far this year. The unit is scheduled to be fully operations capable Oct. 1.
"Organizations, like people, need time to mature," Olson told the crowd.
The first two years were "not without challenge, not without mishap, not without mistake," Olson said, but Hejlik and the Marines and sailors of MarSOC should be proud of their work.
"You have served your first commanding general well, as you have been served well by him," Olson told the Marines and sailors.
When the unit was formed, some in the military and special operations community opposed the idea of having a Marine Corps special operations force. But that culture has shifted, Hejlik said in an interview after the ceremony.
"I don't hear that anymore," he said, but if he does run into a skeptic, he explains why MarSOC is necessary.
"I say, listen, the world has changed. It's an asymmetric world, like it or not. It's unconventional warfare. The enemy doesn't fight fair," Hejlik said.
The command's first company-level deployment, of Marine Special Operations Company-F, ended early when the company was ordered by Army commanders to leave Afghanistan after two incidents in early March 2007. Witnesses at a court of inquiry into those incidents testified there was friction between the Marine unit and other special operations groups, and that the company did not have adequate support.
Thursday, Hejlik called the perception of friction between MarSOC and U.S. Special Operations Command "bunk."
"There just is not (friction)," he said. "Cooperation and coordination ... has never been better."
MarSOC also has grown and changed during Hejlik's time at the helm, including reorganization from nine special operations companies to eight, while adding more support jobs. He called the process "adventure learning."
"Nobody's really done this before," he said. "We've adjusted as we've gone along."
Recruitment has also changed. The first year, Hejlik and now-retired Sgt. Maj. Matthew Ingram, then the sergeant major of MarSOC, spent a lot of time on the road recruiting, Hejlik said. Now the command has a recruiting team, and the process is going extremely well, he said.
But Hejlik reiterated a theme that has dominated his presentations about MarSOC - that the Marines and sailors of MarSOC are Marines or sailors first and foremost. Operators return to "mother Marine Corps" after five years in the special operations realm, while support and maintenance personnel, as well as field-grade officers, return after a three-year tour.
"If you like to deploy a lot, then come on to MarSOC," Hejlik said.
Robeson, who met Hejlik when the two were second lieutenants in the mid-1970s, said his friend has "set the standard" at MarSOC.
"There's not a job in the Marine Corps I would rather have today," Robeson said.
Contact interactive content editor Jennifer Hlad at jhlad@freedomenc.com or 910-219-8467. Visit www.jdnews.com to comment on this report.
Ellie