U.S. Marines closing ranks with special operations.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold
• Position: Brief Article

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...