- The top naval general is leading the Corps back to its naval roots amid a shift toward great power competition.
- This has implications for the Corps’ special operators, the Marine Forces Special Operations Command.
- The Marine Raiders have “great value” that conventional forces don’t have, says Gen. David Berger.
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US special forces have been on the front lines for more than 20 years.
These forces have played important roles in US counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. However, with Russia and China posing a growing challenge, the Pentagon is examining how to deploy these operators’ unique capabilities in a different environment.
Each branch of the US military has been brainstorming how their special operators can contribute. For the Marine Forces Special Operations Command, the question is particularly relevant.
The newest member of SOCOM
US Marine Raiders in front of a Japanese dugout canoe at Bougainville, Solomon Islands in January 1944. Photograph by US Marine Corps
The other US military branches established their special operations commands in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The U.S. Special Operations Command, a combatant command that oversees each branch’s special operations component, was formed in 1987.
The Marine Corps resisted invitations to contribute to SOCOM, believing that “every Marine is special” and that Marines did not make separate special operations units. However, the Corps eventually gave in and MARSOC joined SOCOM in 2006.
The Marine Raider Regiment, as the naval unit attached to SOCOM is known, specializes in direct missions such as raids, special reconnaissance operations and foreign home defense – the training and advising of partner forces. They can also engage in unconventional warfare, which includes working with proxy fighters and counter-terrorism operations.
“MARSOC originally began with a unique organizational structure and capabilities” unparalleled in the US Army’s Special Operations Command or Naval Special Warfare Command, retired Marine Raider Maj. Fred Galvin told Insider.
Marines participate in MARSOC’s assessment and selection course at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Jan. 30, 2015. U.S. Marine Corps/Sgt. Donovan Lee
“These capabilities provided a very robust ‘raid’ capability with an organic infantry security platoon that even Tier 1 units do not have in their organic organisation, and Tier 1 units preside for integrated training throughout their training life cycle not available for deployment,” Galvin added.
Galvin is the author of A Few Bad Men, an account of Marine Special Operations’ first combat mission to Afghanistan and how it overcame attacks from all sides.
During the Global War on Terror, Marine Raiders have been deployed and fought in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and across Africa. Marine Raiders made headlines in January 2020 when they responded as first responders to an al-Shabab attack on a Kenyan military base that killed three Americans.
With the end of major combat operations in the Middle East and the consequent decline in demand for counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations, MARSOC is competing with Naval Special Warfare and Army Special Operations for resources and missions.
Culture, language and operations with low visibility
Marines with 3rd Marine Raider Battalion during urban combat training at Camp Lejeune, Nov. 17, 2016. U.S. Marine Corps/Cpl. Christopher A Mendoza
During a conference in February, the commander of the US Marine Corps, Gen. David Berger, gave an insight into how the Marine Corps special forces might fight in the future.
With the war on terror ending, SOCOM has stated the need to better align deterrence of strategic rivals with counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations.
Having a forward-deployed force working with allies and partners around the world to build credible defenses against adversaries like China and Russia is just as important as countering violent extremist organizations.
For MARSOC to support such a pivot, Berger described an emphasis on low visibility and operational preparation of battlefield operations, which are not combat operations but rather prepare a combat space for potential kinetic action.
Members of the Marine Raider Regiment perform a free fall jump from an MV-22B Osprey over North Carolina September 1, 2015. U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Austin A Lewis
The “great value of the Marine Raiders is their continued presence up front and in their deeper cultural and linguistic” capabilities, as well as “their connection through the country team to the nation,” Berger said. “Conventional armed forces usually don’t have any of that.”
For example, a Marine Raider team could travel to Kenya to map roads, safe houses, active or potential airstrips, and other points of interest that could be used to support the rapid deployment of special operators in response to an attack.
To conduct such operations, special forces must have mature troops who can blend in with the environment, and the ethnic and linguistic diversity of the US special forces community facilitates this goal. For example, units like the Army’s 7th Special Forces Group, assigned to Central and South America, emphasize these cultural ties and tailor their language instruction to that region.
Special Operators with these backgrounds and skills are able to blend in where they operate, making it easier to connect with potential partners and harder for rival forces to spot.
“Back to the roots of the Navy”
Marines with the 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion Helocast during visit, board, search and seizure training near Camp Pendleton, California. U.S. Marine Corps/Cpl. Kyle McNally
Berger has sought to refocus the Marine Corps on the maritime sphere after years of fighting in places like Afghanistan, and he said he would welcome a similar shift for Marine Raiders.
“Hopefully, if you look two or three or four years into the future, [MARSOC] would follow a similar path as the rest of the Marine Corps, back to Marine roots [and] How does it support the naval expeditionary forces forward,” Berger said at the National Defense Industrial Association conference.
Berger’s push to ditch “big heavy things” and build a smaller, lighter, more naval-focused force has garnered support in Congress and Pentagon leaders, but has also drawn backlash. More than two dozen retired generals have launched a campaign against it.
Like other US special forces, the Marine Forces Special Operations Command has felt the strain of the past 20 years of near-continuous combat operations in the Middle East and Africa. But that experience has also produced lessons and skills that the Command can apply to great power competition in the future.
MARSOC has come a long way, developing “greater combat capabilities and integration with more resources that bring increased lethality to their deployable forces that didn’t exist before,” Galvin said.
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a veteran of the Hellenic Army (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army Headquarters) and a graduate of Johns Hopkins University.