ARTICLE

February 2003

U.S. Marines Closing Ranks With Special Operations

by Harold Kennedy

After 15 years of keeping its distance, the tradition-oriented U.S. Marine Corps is cooperating more closely with the unconventional U.S. Special Operations Command.

The two organizations are stepping up joint training exercises and deploying together more often in combat operations. The Marines have agreed—for the first time ever—to contribute a small unit to the Special Operations Command.

The end result, according to some insiders, eventually could be a major Marine organization within special operations, on a par with the Navy’s Sea, Air and Land (SEAL) teams or the Army’s Special Forces.

USSOCOM was formed in 1987 in an effort to improve the military services’ ability to perform unconventional and sensitive operations.

The new command—headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Fla.—was to include all special operations forces in the U.S. armed services.

The Army, Navy and Air Force all contributed units. The Army provided Special Forces, Delta Force, Rangers, specialized helicopter units, psychological operations and civil affairs teams. The Navy supplied SEALs, special-boat units and SEAL-delivery teams. The Air Force established helicopter and C-130 squadrons equipped for special operations missions.

Only the Corps opted out, choosing instead to develop Marine Expeditionary Units, which are trained to conduct maritime special operations. MEUs—each including 2,200 combat-equipped Marines, with helicopters, Harrier jets and armored vehicles—patrol the world’s trouble spots in groups of amphibious assault ships.

While MEUs perform a variety of special operations, such as hostage rescues, embassy evacuations and recovery of downed pilots from hostile territory, the Corps did not turn them over to USSOCOM. Instead, the Marines retained control over their MEUs, arguing that they were needed in order to perform the service’s basic mission—to project U.S. military power from the sea.

“Our highly trained, cost-effective, first-on-the-scene forces provide a much-needed special operations capability that is complementary, not redundant, to the mission of our nation’s special operations forces,” Marine Commandant Gen. Michael W. Hagee told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

Although they have maintained their independence, Marines and special operators have cooperated from the beginning, said Lt. Col. Giles Kyser, head of the Marine Air Ground Task Force special operations section of the plans, policy and operations at the Corps’ headquarters. The Corps routinely assigns individual Marines to regular tours of duty at USSOCOM, he told National Defense. Currently, he noted, 105 of them are filling such assignments.

Interaction between the two organizations has picked up during the war on terrorism. In Afghanistan, for example, Marine Brig. Gen. James N. Mattis commanded Task Force 58, which took Kandahar. It included 8,000 Marines and sailors, and it coordinated its efforts with special operations troops, Kyser said.

Another task force, headed by Marine Maj. Gen. John F. Sattler and including troops both from his service and special ops, has deployed to the Horn of Africa. Its mission is to help stabilize countries in that region, such as Somalia, Eritrea and Kenya, against terrorist activity.

A major reason for the heightened interaction is that USSOCOM needs the help. The command has approximately 46,000 troops, active duty and reserves, a small percentage of the 1.4 million active-duty personnel in all the services. Special operators deploy to about 140 countries on training, peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters that the Marine Corps will be expected to develop a closer relationship with the special operations forces.

The Marine Corps has 173,000 troops, many of whom could fill special operations roles, Kyser noted.

In November 2001, then-commandant Gen. James Jones and Air Force Gen. Charles Holland, head of USSOCOM, signed a memorandum of agreement pledging greater cooperation.

“The time is right to enhance interoperability between USSOCOM and the Marine Corps in order to prosecute the global war on terrorism and to meet future challenges,” Jones said.

Specifically, the MOA set up a board with representatives from special operations and the Marines to explore how the two organizations might do more together, Kyser said.

Action came quickly. In mid-2002, Marine Brig. Gen. Dennis Hejlik—until recently the commandant’s military secretary—was named chief of staff at USSOCOM. He is the first Marine general officer ever assigned to special operations.

Later in the year, Marines from the U.S. European Command, in Stuttgart, Germany, began replacing Green Berets in a program to train soldiers in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The training is intended to help Georgia defend itself against infiltration by Islamic rebels from next-door Chechnya, which is fighting for independence from Russia.

The Green Berets trained a Georgian commando battalion. The Marines are to instruct a mountain battalion, a light-infantry unit and a mechanized company team. Training will include tactics such as daylight company-level attacks, nighttime defensive operations and platoon-level patrols.

Experimental Unit
In 2002, a conference of special operators and Marines hammered out an agreement for a full Marine detachment to be assigned for the first time to USSOCOM, starting in 2004. The detachment is to be detailed to special operations as a two-year “proof of concept,” an experiment to help figure out the organizational details of a more permanent unit, Kyser said.

The detachment, to be based initially at Camp Pendleton, Calif., already is taking shape. Key personnel are scheduled to report in March, with training to begin in June. The commander will be Lt. Col. Bob Coates, an infantry officer with a reconnaissance background, according to Kyser.

The detachment will consist of 81 hand-picked Marines and five Navy corpsmen, Kyser said. Included will be 22 people in a headquarters element, 30 reconnaissance specialists, 28 intelligence operators and six Marines providing fire support elements. “These will be very highly trained, well-seasoned men,” he said.

The detachment will deploy with SEALs based at the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado, Calif. Its mission will be to augment SEAL teams in conducting special reconnaissance missions and direct-action strikes to seize, recover or destroy designated personnel or materiel, he explained. The detachment also will participate in programs to help friendly nations protect their societies from subversion, lawlessness and insurgency.

The organization is designed to be flexible in size, Kyser said. It is possible—but not guaranteed—that it could grow into a Marine Corps Special Operations Command, resembling those of the other services.

“Almost anything is possible,” Kyser said. “This unit could grow into something very large, or it could stay the same size that it is now.”

Either way, Kyser said, “it can’t help but improve the level of trust and comfort between special operations forces and the Marine Corps.”

Meanwhile, the Marines are taking steps to improve their ability to conduct special operations missions. A long-term effort is underway, for example, to strengthen the Corps’ famed reconnaissance units.

Recon, as the specialty is known, trace its origins to the Marine Raider Battalions formed during World War II. Recon Marines are highly skilled infantrymen, qualified as paratroopers and scuba divers. They specialize in going behind enemy lines to gather information, conduct small raids, call in air strikes or naval gunfire, or help prepare the way for major combat operations.

Recon units were cut back during the budget reductions of the early 1990s, but now, in an era of repeated regional conflicts, their skills are back in demand.

To meet this need, the 1st Marine Division’s reconnaissance company, at Camp Pendleton, in 2000 was increased to battalion strength, the same size it was a decade ago.

In 2002, the 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was reassigned from the 2nd Marine Division to the II Marine Expeditionary Force, giving the MEF commander direct control over the company.

Late in 2002, the Corps extended the military occupational specialty for enlisted recon Marines (0321) all the way from private (E-1) through master gunnery sergeant (E-9).

Previously, Kyser explained, when a recon Marine was promoted to staff sergeant, he was switched to another job specialty, infantry team leader (0369).

As a result, the staff sergeant could be transferred out of the recon field, resulting in a needless loss of years of training and experience, Kyser said.

“I’ve got a master gunnery sergeant working with me who is a first-class diver,” Kyser said. “He’s military free-fall capable. He has a master’s degree. He has a private pilot’s license. He has an acquisition background. There’s nothing that guy can’t do. You don’t want to lose guys like that.”

In addition to strengthening its recon units, the Marine Corps also is reactivating its active-duty Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Companies, known as ANGLICOs, Hagee told senators.

Fire Support
ANGLICO personnel provide fire support for allied military units. They routinely work with Marine recon and Army Special Forces units, requiring them to have the same level of training. This includes parachute, survival, pathfinder and helicopter rope-suspension schools.

Active-duty ANGLICO units were disbanded in 1997. Their duties were turned over to reservists. As a result, the 1st and 2nd ANGLICO units are scheduled to return to active duty later this year.

Also, Hagee said, fielding the troubled V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft will “bring the Marine Corps and Air Force special operations forces closer together.” The Marines plan to acquire 360 of them, and the Air Force Special Operations Command wants 50.

Designed to transport 24 combat-equipped troops more than 500 nautical miles, the Osprey has been plagued by crashes in flight tests that killed 23 Marines in 2000.

Since then, the Osprey has been modified in an effort to correct the problems, and the test flights have been resumed.

When the Osprey completes flight testing, Marine and Air Force pilots and maintainers will train with the V-22 squadron at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., Hagee said.

“The jointness that will occur at this training squadron will go a long way towards promoting closer understanding and coordination between Marine Corps and Air Force Special Operations aviation units,” he said.

In many respects, special operations are nothing new for the Marine Corps, which “has been the expeditionary force for the United States since its inception in 1775,” said retired Special Forces Col. Al DeProspero, who also served as a Marine.

The service accumulated extensive experience with counterinsurgency operations, first in the Caribbean and Central America during the early 20th century, then later in the Cold War and in Vietnam. Recent changes “merely mark a realization that the Marine Corps has a definitive role to play in low-intensity conflict and special operations,” he said.

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