United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) is a component command of the

United States Special Operations Command The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States A ...

(SOCOM) that comprises the Marine Corps' contribution to SOCOM. Its core capabilities are

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to othe ...

special reconnaissance Special reconnaissance (SR) or Recon Team is conducted by small units of highly trained military personnel, usually from special forces units or military intelligence organizations, who operate behind enemy lines, avoiding direct combat and detect ...

and

foreign internal defense Foreign internal defense (FID) is a term used by the military in several countries, including the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, to describe an integrated, and possibly multi-country, approach to combating actual or threatened i ...

. MARSOC has also been directed to conduct

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that Government, governments, law enforcement, business, and Intelligence agency, intellig ...

and

information operations Information Operations is a category of direct and indirect support operations for the United States Military. By definition in Joint Publication 3-13, "IO are described as the integrated employment of electronic warfare (EW), computer network ...

History and lineage

Its creation was announced on 23 November 2005 by U.S. Defense Secretary

Donald Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, government official and businessman who served as United States Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under president Gerald Ford, and a ...

, following a meeting between him, the SOCOM commander General Bryan D. Brown, and the Marine Corps Commandant General Michael Hagee on 28 October 2005. MARSOC was officially activated on 24 February 2006 with ceremonies at

Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune () is a United States military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Its of beaches make the base a major area for amphibious assault training, and its location between two deep-water ports ( Wilmi ...

, North Carolina. The potential participation of the Marine Corps in SOCOM has been controversial since SOCOM was formed in 1986. At the time, Marine Corps leaders felt that their Force Reconnaissance (FORECON) units were best kept in the Marine Corps'

Marine Air-Ground Task Force Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF, pronounced MAG-TAF) is a term used by the United States Marine Corps to describe the principal organization for all missions across the range of military operations. MAGTFs are a balanced air-ground, combined ar ...

command structure and that the detachment of an elite Marine special operations unit would be to the detriment of the Marine Corps as a whole. A re-evaluation following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

and the

Global War on Terrorism The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...

, along with new policy established by Secretary Rumsfeld and Commandant General James L. Jones at

The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metonym ...

, caused the Marine Corps to work towards integration with SOCOM. The establishment of MARSOC represented the most significant step towards that goal and followed the establishment of Detachment One (

Det One The Marine Corps Special Operations Command Detachment One, also simply known as Det One, was a pilot program of attaching a permanent unit of the United States Marine Corps to the United States Special Operations Command. It was commanded by Col ...

), a small Marine Corps detachment formed as a pilot program to test Marine Corps integration into SOCOM. It was made up of mostly Marines from

1st First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and 2nd Force Reconnaissance Batalions along with other hand-picked support men and served with

Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting s ...

under Naval Special Warfare Group One. Det One conducted a multitude of special operations in Iraq alongside their special operations brothers of the sister services. SOCOM conducted a study of the unit's deployment, which clearly indicated success and strong performance. Det One was disbanded in 2006 soon after the creation of MARSOC. The first of many Marine Special Operations Companies stood up in June 2006. MARSOC's initial deployment to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

in 2007 was mired in controversy when its Fox Company was sent back to the United States and its commander relieved from duty after a shooting incident. The incident that resulted in as many as 19 civilians killed involved a complex ambush by insurgents that included a suicide car bomb and small arms fire. Allegations later arose that the MARSOC operators killed the civilians while suppressing enemy fire, but these allegations proved false. MARSOC Marines also took part in

Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines (OEF-P) or Operation Freedom Eagle was part of Operation Enduring Freedom and the global War on Terror. The Operation targeted the various Jihadist terror groups operating in the country. By 2009, abo ...

. Following U.S. Army General David Petraeus' assumption of command in Afghanistan in 2010, in support of the ALP/VSO program (Afghan Local Police/Village Stability Operations), special forces in Afghanistan were task-organized into battalion level SOTF (Special Operations Task Forces), each with a geographic area of responsibility—for MARSOC, this was western Afghanistan and

Helmand Province Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering area. The province contains 13 ...

. In March 2012, MARSOC teams suffered several casualties to Green on Blue attacks. In July 2012, a patrol of Afghan Army commandos was ambushed by insurgents from several buildings in

Badghis Province Bādghīs (Dari: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northwest of the country, on the border with Turkmenistan. It is considered to be one of the country's most underdeveloped provinces, with the highest poverty r ...

and three Afghans were wounded by small arms fire. Gunnery Sergeants Jonathan Gifford and Daniel Price raced forward on an

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to retrieve the wounded under

direct fire Direct fire or line-of-sight fire refers to firing of a ranged weapon whose projectile is launched directly at a target within the line-of-sight of the user. The firing weapon must have a sighting device and an unobstructed view to the target, ...

from the enemy. After evacuating the wounded to an emergency helicopter landing zone, they returned and assaulted the enemy positions in a fierce close-quarter battle. While throwing grenades down the chimney of an insurgent-occupied building, they were struck and killed by PKM fire; for his actions that day Price was awarded the

Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an ...

. On 6 August 2014, MARSOC claimed and officially bestowed the prestigious

Marine Raider The Marine Raiders are special operations forces originally established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious light infantry warfare. " Edson's" Raiders of 1st Marine Raider Battalion and " Carlson's" Ra ...

moniker upon their subordinate combat units (

Marine Special Operations Regiment The Marine Raider Regiment (MRR), formerly known as the Marine Special Operations Regiment (MSOR), is a special operations force of the United States Marine Corps, which is a part of Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC). Renamed ...

) in commemoration of the fabled and elite amphibious light infantry unit that operated during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. ''Marine Corps Times'' reported that in 2017, Marine Raiders assisted in the liberation of Marawi from ISIS militants. In February 2019, ''Marine Corps Times'' reported that since the formation of MARSOC 13 years before, it had conducted 300 operational deployments across 13 countries, awarded more than 300 valor awards and that 43 Raiders (including two

military dog Dogs in warfare have a very long history starting in ancient times. From being trained in combat, to their use as scouts, sentries, messengers, mercy dogs, and trackers, their uses have been varied and some continue to exist in modern militar ...

s) had been killed in training and combat operations. Since MARSOC's first deployment, it has become a strong partner in SOCOM and proven itself able to conduct full-spectrum special operations. They have successfully conducted both long-term counterinsurgency under the VSO program and carried out complex direct action tasks.

Organization

US Marine Forces Special Operations Command

The base unit of MARSOC is a fourteen-man Marine Special Operations Team (MSOT), commanded by a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

as team commander, assisted by a master sergeant as team chief. Each team has two identical squads, or tactical elements, each led by a gunnery sergeant as element leader. MARSOC is based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and is split into three subordinate commands:

Selection

Prerequisites

All Marines are screened to ensure that the Marines joining MARSOC meet the established prerequisites for duty within the command. * Have a minimum GT score of 105, 110 for officers. * Have a minimum PFT of 235. * Be able to pass the MARSOC swim assessment. * Meet the MARSOC medical screening criteria. * Be eligible to obtain and maintain a secret clearance.

Screening

Selection of the right personnel begins with a rigorous screening process designed to identify the right Marines for the right

billet A billet is a living-quarters to which a soldier is assigned to sleep. Historically, a billet was a private dwelling that was required to accept the soldier. Soldiers are generally billeted in barracks or garrisons when not on combat duty, alt ...

within MARSOC. Operational billets are open to females as of 2016. Screening takes place in 3 stages: record screening, physical screening, and a psychological and medical evaluation.

Special Operations Training Course

The Special Operations Training Course (SOTC) is six weeks of unhindered, realistic, challenging basic and intermediate Special Operations Forces (SOF) warfighting skills training. During STC, the Special Operations Capabilities Specialists will also attend

Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) is a training program, best known by its military acronym, that prepares U.S. military personnel, U.S. Department of Defense civilians, and private military contractors to survive and "retur ...

(SERE) training along with a MARSOF Level 1 Course specific to their MOS: Explosive Ordnance Disposal (6 weeks), Communications (12 weeks), Intelligence (14–17 weeks), Joint Terminal Attack Controller (4 weeks), Multi-Purpose Canine (10 weeks).

Personnel

Critical Skills Operators (CSOs) are the primary special operations Marines within MARSOC. They are trained to execute a variety of missions. Specialized training also provides capabilities in language fluency necessary for crossing cultural barriers, allowing CSOs to connect with the local forces as well as civilians. Marines designated CSOs are awarded MOS code 0372. CSOs are assigned to Marine Special Operations Teams (MSOT), Companies (MSOC), and Battalions (MSOB). Special Operations Officers (SOOs) are Marine Corps officers awarded the MOS code 0370. Officer candidates trying to obtain this MOS have to be rank of first lieutenant or higher and must go through similar training and more compared to enlistees. SOO candidates will attend Assessment & Selection (A&S) Phase 1 and 2 together with their enlisted counterparts. Upon successful A&S Phase 1 and 2 completion, Marines selected for assignment as CSOs or SOOs attend Individual Training Course (ITC). Officers attending ITC will also attend MARSOC Team Commander's Course (MTCC), which coincides with ITC. Once all training has been completed, SOOs will be sent to their Marine Special Operations Teams, Companies, and Battalions. Special Operations Combat Service Specialists (SOCS-Ss) are combat service support Marines who serve one standard tour with MARSOC in their primary MOS. Their training includes core skills for joint and interagency work as well as enhanced SOF combat skills training to enable their successful integration and survivability in special operations environments. Special Operations Capabilities Specialists (SOCSs) are combat support Marines who are able to join MARSOC based upon their MOS skill. They receive advanced special operations forces training and certification. SOCSs are operational and tactical force multipliers and frequently deploy alongside CSOs. SOCS billet fields include intelligence, communications,

explosive ordnance disposal Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the milit ...

, dog handlers, and fire-control specialists. SOCSs are awarded the MOS of 8071 and return to the operating forces after an extended tour of service with MARSOC.

Insignia

In August 2016, the Marine Corps approved a new Marine Special Operator Insignia for wear by graduates of the five-phase Individual Training Course (ITC). The pin device will first be issued to the next ITC graduating class of critical skills operators. Critical skills operators and special operations officers already in the field will receive their pins later.

List of commanders

* Command of MARSOC is a

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

's billet # Dennis Hejlik – February 2006 – April 2008 # Mastin M. Robeson – April 2008 – November 2009 #

Paul E. Lefebvre Paul E. Lefebvre is a retired Marine Corps Major General and was the third Commanding General of the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC). Early life and education Lefebvre graduated from Springfield College in 1975 with a B ...

– November 2009 – August 2012 # Mark A. Clark – August 2012 – August 2014 #

Joseph Osterman Joseph L. Osterman is a retired United States Marine lieutenant general who served as the commander of the I Marine Expeditionary Force. Marine career Osterman was commissioned in the United States Marine Corps as a second lieutenant through the N ...

– August 2014 – August 2016 #

Carl E. Mundy III Carl Epting Mundy III (born 1960) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Marine Corps, who last served as commander of the United States Marine Forces Central Command. He previously served as commander of the United States Marine Fo ...

August 2016 – June 2018 #

Daniel Yoo Daniel Yoo (born 25 September 1985) is a South Korean former tennis player. Yoo has a career high ATP singles ranking of 326 achieved on 13 June 2011. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of 425 achieved on 15 August 2011. Yoo made ...

– June 2018 – June 2020 #

James F. Glynn James F. Glynn is a United States Marine Corps Lieutenant general (United States), lieutenant general who serves as the deputy commandant for manpower and reserve affairs of the Marine Corps since October 2022. He commanded United States Marine C ...

– June 2020 – May 2022 #

Matthew G. Trollinger Matthew G. Trollinger is a United States Marine Corps major general who has served as the chief of staff of United States Africa Command since July 1, 2024. He served as the commander of United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command f ...

– May 2022 – present

Gallery

File:MARSOC conducts VBSS training with 160th SOAR 121112-M-EL893-421.jpg, A 160th SOAR(A) MH-47 conducts water insertion of Marine Raiders File:MARSOC parachutist.jpg, A Marine Raider glides towards his target during high-altitude parachute operations. File:Defense.gov photo essay 100329-F-0870P-023.jpg, MARSOC operators provide security for friendly forces in Afghanistan's Farah province. File:A U.S. Special Operations Marine provides security as Afghan Local Police members collect their first payments in Helmand province, Afghanistan, April 9, 2013 130409-M-BO337-033.jpg, A MARSOC Marine in Helmand province, Afghanistan. File:MARSOC wives participate iaMARSOC wives participate in Jane Wayne Dayn Jane Wayne Day. 131019-M-EJ335-498.jpg, MARSOC wives participate in a simulated raid during Jane Wayne Day File:2nd MRSB PRIMER Image 38 of 105 6583991 210316-M-XU129-1028.jpg, alt=, Special Operations Capability Specialists with 2nd Marine Raider Support Battalion training at Camp Lejeune, N.C. File:SOCS-D SOF Level 1 Image 4 of 25 6583913 210120-M-XM144-0095.jpg, alt=, Marine Raider Support Group members execute urban detection training during a Special Operations Capabilities Specialist D (Multi-Purpose Canine Handler) training course

References

; Attribution

Works cited

External links

Marine Forces Special Operations Command official website

2013 SOCOM Factbook

MARSOC Prerequisites and Recruitment PhasesArchived

U.S. Marine Raider Legacy
at the Marine Raider Foundation {{DEFAULTSORT:Special Operations Command Commands of the United States Marine Corps Special operations units and formations of the United States Marine Corps