WAR: Marine Special Operations Command joins JSOC

Following the success of a pilot program begun at Camp Pendleton in June 2003 and involving Marine Special Operations personnel participating in Detachment One in Iraq last year, Marine Special Operations Command will now formally join Joint Special Operations Command alongside Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, and Air Force special operations units. The Charter commander of the new unit will be Brig. General Dennis J. Hejlik, charged with overseeing the Marine Special Operations Regiment and the Marines Special Operations Support Group (Intelligence) as the Marines interface with JSOC.



I'd heard this was in the works, and now its official. I think it will be great for JSOC to acquire this Marine contingent and will bring a stronger and more cohesive effort to the war on terror. With General Pace now CJCS, I would think the Marines will now have the role at JSOC they have had all along elsewhere - out front, in the lead, showing the way, on point.

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It's really about time. I remember that the botched Desert Eagle rescue was made much more difficult by the members of the Joint Chiefs bickering over who had jurisdiction.

I maintain that all combat arms be streamlined, training standards be elevated, and that all support services either become civilian contracted specialists or assigned to a single unified branch of the DoD called the 'support arm'. The money and time this will save would be significant.

Nice to see someone is finally taking a good look at the 1,000 armed monster that is the US military.

Why do the marines have a special operations group anyway??

I mean, the navy has the seals, they operate on land but via the sea. The airforce spec op captures and holds airports. Army special forces and special operations pretty much cover everything else. So what're the marines doing?

I mean, the marines are shock troops, stormtroopers, beachhead assaulters. They're already pretty specific and 'special'.

The Marines have all the capabilities of the other services combined, as well as the gung-ho attitude of elite soldiers. That goes without saying.

I think what MSOC will add to JSOC is an integration of the various operational facets the other elite groups bring to the table from their respective branches of the armed services, into the tried and true methods of Marine Corps combined arms maneuvers. The Marines were and are a big part of the development of combined arms maneuvers, using air support, artillery, and naval bombardment to back up the grunts fighting it out in the trenches. This experience and expertise will be an invaluable addition to JSOC as it strives to bring the necessary military power to bear on the elusive enemy in the WOT.

Also, the Marines are used to doing more with less than the other branches of the military. SEAL Team Six alone had a bigger practice ammo budget than the entire Marine Corps. Dick Marchenko was proud of that. I think MSOC will bring maximum fiscal utility to JSOC as well, another thing sorely needed in the prosecution of the WOT, with deficits to fund it soaring and massive cuts in social programs and inhibited disaster response the fallout here at home.

Not to mention the death and destruction and human misery the WOT is causing all over the world. The sooner it is over, the better. With Marine methods now integrated into JSOC, our elite military units will now be even more lethal and effective.

Maybe they will even finally catch Bin laden and Zarqawi and the other elusive Al Quaida ringleaders.

[edit on 4-11-2005 by Icarus Rising]