MARSOC: YOUNG, BUT EXPERIENCED

By Gidget Fuentes | 1:53 p.m. Aug. 26, 2015

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/aug/26/marsoc-young-butexperienced-special-forces/
Part of the training for Marine Raiders is eight weeks of a "small unit tactics
phase," where recruits learn about operating with small boats and scout
swimmers.
U.S. Marine Corps

As it prepares
to

turn
10
next
year, the Marine
Corps small special operations
community is the youngest of the militarys elite forces. That hardly means a
lack of experience in dealing with threats spurred by global instability,
extremism, terrorism and territorial disputes.

Marine Raiders, including a battalion that calls Camp Pendleton its home, are
among the highly specialized forces available to commanders worldwide.

Marine Special Operations Command is here to stay, Maj. Gen. Joseph

Osterman, who leads the 2,700-member force, told a crowd gathered at Camp
Lejeune, N.C., during a ceremony in June. When you look at the future warfare
environments and (the Islamic State) and these other non-state actors that are
out there, special operations has a very front and central position in our
national defense.

SPECIAL SECTION: INSIDE AMERICA'S ELITE FORCES

MARSOC has been sending its specialized teams of critical skills operators
overseas since 2007 the year after its creation. The tight-knit community has
honored its battlefield heroics but also suffered its share of losses.

Most recently was the loss of seven Marine Raiders, along with four Army
National Guard aircrewmen, during a March 10 training exercise. Their UH-60
Blackhawk helicopter crashed off the coast of Eglin, Fla.

The MARSOC force of 2,742 Marines and sailors includes up to 700 critical skills
operators in three battalions. That figure is expected to grow to 844, according
to a Congressional Research Service report in April.

Marine Raiders said their maritime skills will prove valuable to the larger
special operations force and the overall Marine Corps.

Precursor to MARSOC
In late 2005, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed off on the
formation of a Marine Corps component to U.S. Special Operations Command.
The force, initially set to number about 2,500, was established on Feb. 1, 2006,
with a unit designed to conduct foreign internal defense and advisory missions.

To man the force and begin to fill its initial two battalions, the Marine Corps
nearly gutted its Force Reconnaissance companies seasoned Marines who
train to go deep into hostile land and be the eyes and ears for commanders
in the services conventional force.

The legacy of old Raiders, who carved out new missions in their day, was
embedded in the Marine Corps precursor to MARSOC, a small, little-known unit
formed up at Camp Pendleton 12 years ago as a test-bed of sorts.

That unit, called Detachment 1, trained a force of 81 men, experienced Force

Reconnaissance Marines and others skilled in communications, as a proof of
concept to help the Marine Corps determine its possible place within the
special operations community.

The detachment trained with Navy SEALs with SEAL Team 1 from Coronado and
deployed with them to Iraq in 2004, doing reconnaissance and hunting down
insurgent leaders, in one case insurgents who had killed several linguists
helping coalition forces, apparently as retribution.

Marines with the detachment had expected to keep training and redeploy
overseas, but the Marine Corps decided to deactivate the unit. MARSOC was
established a year later, joined by some of the Detachment 1 Marines.

While its short history was detailed in a Marine Corps historical document
published in 2011, Detachment 1 remains less known even to other Marines. It
wasnt referenced during the Raider renaming ceremony in June and isnt
mentioned in MARSOCs historical overview on the commands website.

Whos who in MARSOC

MARSOC consists of several key units that select, train and support Marine
Raiders, who fall under the regional special operations commanders when they
deploy.

The Marine Special Operations Regiment has three battalions of Marine

Raiders. Among their missions, they train and advise foreign naval, maritime,
military and paramilitary forces to help them build their own capabilities, and
they can operate as part of a bigger joint special operation task force. Marines
train, advise and assist these forces so they can secure or stabilize their own
government, counter subversion or deal with threats.

Supporting those battalions are the Marine Raider Support Group and three
Marine Raider Support Battalions, whose highly trained Marines skilled in
intelligence, logistics, communications, fires, and even K-9 teams assist the
operators.

The main schoolhouse is Marine Special Operations School. It runs the

Assessment and Selection program that screens prospective critical skills

operators and the Individual Training Course, as well as other individual, basic,
and advanced-level courses to further develop Raiders skills. That includes
Airborne School, where they earn their jump wings.

Demand for highly skilled operators remains high. While theres no shortage of
applicants, not everyone who wants to become a Marine Raider will make it
through the process of screening, selection and initial training thats chock full
of intense coursework and training.

To a degree, MARSOC is competing against the other services for a similar

group of men and as of yet the Marine Corps has not lifted gender
restrictions on Raiders. Whom do they seek? Someone who is smart and fit.
Problem-solvers with initiative. Doers who are team-oriented.

Operator and enabler, they are all Type As, so they come and theyre just
winners, said Sgt. Maj. Robert Tellez, the senior Marine and sergeant major of
1st Marine Raider Battalion at Camp Pendleton.

Case in point: A recent graduating class at an advanced-level school, the Staff

Non-Commissioned Officers Academy at Camp Lejeune, had Marine Raiders all
in the top five, Tellez said. They probably competed against each other.
Healthy competition.

Raiders who succeed have a drive and the will to win, said Tellez, who has
worked as Marine recruiter and is on his second tour with MARSOC. Theyve
got a serious, serious determination.

That carries on during the grueling selection process. Dont tap out, dont say
I quit is the common advice, Tellez said. Just keep going. Theyre going to
be looking for someone who can test the limits.

It can be dangerous, as theyll apply the same thing to a forced march or a

hike with a 75- or 80-pound ruck and theyll keep going, he said.

Raiders arent all about physicality.

There are some guys who sometimes medically or morally just dont hack it.
Some of them may drink its a very small group, Tellez said.

For the special-ops battalion at Camp Pendleton, MARSOCs new focus on

regionalization means Marine Raiders might encounter a range of cultures and
societies across their Pacific region. That means more diplomacy, more
linguistic skills, more adaptability.

The overseas work demands higher levels of discipline, higher levels of

maturity, Tellez said. Thats how they get weeded out. Every once in a while,
youll have one thats in an environment or in a country where youre supposed
to get in, get out and set up positive relationships, but they dont have the
people skills. They are immature. For the most part, they have to deal with
civilians and State Department personnel, and they have to be very mature.

Becoming a Raider
A Marine wanting to become a Raider must make it through a three-step
process. First, theres selection, a 45-day process to sift through Marines who
want to go Raider.

They have to pass medical tests and a physical and must do well on the
physical fitness test, score well on tests and stay out of trouble, said Capt.
William Max Wright, the officer-in-charge of Recruiting/Screening Team East
team at Camp Lejeune. We dont want guys with discipline problems, but
were not zero defect.

MARSOC is well-known.

For the most part, guys are seeking us out, Wright said. We try to give a
realistic picture of what the life is like, and let them decide. ... We recruit for the
long haul, and we want them to buy into it.

To help reduce injuries and early drops in the tryout process, MARSOC posts a
detailed workout program on its website. It also created its own app to help
prospects get fit and ready for the recruitment rigors.

Selected Marines then take the important next step: the Individual Training
Course. The recruits get a healthy dose of what theyre expected to do as an
operator. That means long days, intense training and demanding work
mastering skills ranging from tactical combat casualty care and
communications to infantry tactics and irregular warfare.

The seven-month course, which takes place in North Carolina, is no cakewalk.

It is critical that students prepare their family accordingly, warns a Marine

Corps message announcing the next course, which is set to begin in August.
Translation? Dont expect the Marine to be home for dinner every night.

The course has four segments:

Phase 1: The basic skills phase runs 10 weeks and emphasizes physical
training, including swimming and hand-to-hand combat. They learn field skills
including tactical combat care and SERE, or survival-evasion-resistance-escape.

Phase 2: Over eight weeks, the small unit tactics phase trains students in
operating with small boats and scout swimmers, crew-served weapons,
demolition, photography and information collection and reporting. The phase
culminates with two field exercises, operations Raider Spirit and Stingray
Fury.

Phase 3: The next five weeks are focused on close quarters battle as
students sharpen their pistol and rifle skills and hone those in assaults and
raids. A final exercise called Guile Strike sends them on raid missions in rural
and urban areas.

Phase 4: The final phase lasts seven weeks and covers irregular warfare
operations. A final exercise, Derna Bridge, is crafted around students training,
advising and operating with a foreign irregular force.

Students who complete the course and graduate they still have to pass
muster with the command then are given the job specialty of critical skills
operator (or critical skills officer, for officers) and are assigned to one of
MARSOCs three Raider battalions.

Just completing each task wont ensure they get the title of Raider. Students
are constantly evaluated by instructors throughout the Individual Training
Course, according to a detailed preparation packet.

Marines who graduate from the course then begin what can be a two-year
process of additional training and classes designed to give them expertise in
survival, language, shooting, close-quarters battle, hand-to-hand combat and
other skills.

Teamwork
is
critical,
too,
said
Wright,
the
Recruiting/Screening Team East team at Camp Lejeune.

officer-in-charge

of

Theres a lot at stake when Raiders are sent overseas, he said. A guy who
cant pull his weight will stop everything.

Fuentes is a freelance writer in Oceanside.