Marine Recon and MARSOC

The decision regarding women in combat arms occupational specialties has been made. It’s happening. Why not embrace it? Let’s make the Marine Corps stronger by efficiently employing the benefits that women bring to the table instead of fighting the issue. Women are capable of serving in combat, they are physically and mentally resilient enough to […]

Jimmie Earl Howard enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1950 at the age of 21. He graduated from boot camp in January, 1951 and was promoted to PFC. He then stayed on MCRD San Diego as a drill instructor until December, 1951. (The Marine Corps operated a little differently then.) In February, 1952, he was […]

While Marine Recon got its start in World War II, with the Raiders and the 1st Marine Division’s Amphibious Reconnaissance Company, much of what Recon is today is thanks to Marine Test Unit 1. After the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, most of the US military started trying to shift their doctrine to a […]

Intro: The purpose of this article is to shed a little light on the linear heritage line of MARSOC as the newest and youngest component of SOCOM. The original spark of inspiration for this piece came to me in a small bar called the “Public House” in La Jolla, California, just north of San Diego. […]

I already know what you are thinking… “another foundation?” It seems like everyone and their mother has a foundation going these days. Well guess what? Your mother just got another one – the MARSOC Foundation. Of all of the great organizations out there doing wonderful things for our injured and returning Warriors, this one is […]

Dirty, tired, camouflage-painted, trousers ripped, armed to the teeth, and overloaded. Okay, so that’s what the guys on the Recon team look like most of the time. The team itself has evolved a bit due to operational requirements, equipment limitations, and force protection requirements established by higher. Over the years since Vietnam, the Recon team […]

The Marine Reconnaissance community has been through a lot in the last ten years.  Some of it has gone for the better.  A lot of it has not. At the beginning of the war in Iraq, 1st Recon Bn was pushed into a mechanized role it wasn’t prepared for.  The men took the mission and […]

There have been some questions lately as to what exactly the difference is between Force Recon and MARSOC.  Aside from the fact that Special Operations Marines now have their own MOS, a lot of it comes down to recent history. In 2003, MCSOCOM Detachment One was stood up, commanded by a former commanding officer of […]

This was a great write up by Michael Golembesky, so much that the Army Times poached our entire piece! We did get a link to the site but they literally used the entire write up without a link back to the rest of our material. The throat punch goes to… MARSOC Motorcycle Gangs in Afghanistan […]

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MARSOC remembers it’s fallen Operators one year after their passing. On July 31, 2011 MARSOC and the SOF community was dealt a terrible blow with the loss of three seasoned Operators in a tragic accident. Their MSOT (Marine Special Operations Team) had just returned from a two-day long HELO operation with their Afghan Commando counterparts […]

Gunnery Sgt. Daniel J. Price, 27, of Holland, Mich., and Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan W. Gifford, 34, of Palm Bay, Fla., died during a morning patrol in Badghis province, a Marine official told Marine Corps Times on Monday. Both were critical skills operators assigned to Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command. Price belonged to 1st Marine […]