Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit

by Tom Clancy

  The six designated MAU (SOC)s, three on each coast, were trained, evaluated, and certified to perform eighteen critical and discrete missions. Several were amphibious in nature, such as the Marine Corps' time-tested amphibious raid. Others were contingency-response missions like evacuations and rescues. Several more were combat-related maritime special-operations missions. These included security operations, reinforcement operations, specialized demolitions operations, and military operations in urban terrain. Others included "stability" missions such as civic-action operations that provided dental, medical, and/or engineering support and mobile training teams that taught basic weapons, maneuver, and maintenance skills. Intelligence, counterintelligence, and tactical-deception operations completed another mission subset.

  An integral part of the MAU (SOC) concept was the simultaneous development of the Maritime Special Purpose Force (MSPF). This internally sourced and task-organized, highly trained rapid-response force could participate in all of the above missions: specifically TRAP, demolitions, and operations. However, its essential role was conducting in-extremis hostage rescues. The MSPF, like its parent MAU, was never intended to be a special force. Instead, it was designed to provide Marines with special training and mission-essential equipment, keeping them ready and able to conduct the nation's bidding in circumstances requiring rapid response and quick thinking.

  Since the formalization of the SOC program over a decade ago, and with a name change from amphibious (MAU) to expeditionary (MEU) to better reflect its adaptive nature and fast response focus, the ARG/MEU (SOC) continues to carve a unique and vital niche in America's defense establishment. The stark fact is that any MEU (SOC) can execute any one of its eighteen missions within six hours of an alert. They are trained and prefer to execute all their missions at night, or in limited visibility from over the horizon with tightly controlled communications. These operating characteristics put the MEU (SOC) at the cutting edge of night-flying and night-shooting technology. With the now-proven rapid-response-planning sequence, and years of exhaustive development of standing operating procedures and execution checklists, the MEU (SOC) program remains at the cutting edge of Marine combat training and preparation.

  For almost forty-one years it was my honor and privilege to be a United States Marine. For much of that period, I was closely involved with the execution and refinement of the MEU (SOC) skills and initiatives just outlined. Through it all, some of my proudest moments were reserved for those many gallant warriors who selflessly answered their nation's frequent and clarion call to "send in the Marines." The history of the MEU (SOC) program has been written in their sweat and blood. It is a history that once again offers proof that special men with special training, forged in the fires of discipline and sacrifice, and operating as a team, can routinely achieve uncommon success when accomplishing even the most challenging missions.

  Tom Clancy's engaging work on the MEU (SOC) captures much of this history and spirit. It provides the reader a lens through which to see today's Marines, and to experience their training, their challenges, and the intense confidence and camaraderie that continues to bind them. I commend it to your reading. It reaffirms my long-held belief that Marines are truly America's warriors, "...the few and the proud." Again for a brief moment, it has been my honor to reflect on the history of the courageous accomplishments of our Marine warriors. To all the Marines and sailors who have made our nation's Marine Expeditionary Forces truly special operations capable, take care of yourselves, take care of each other and--Semper Fidelis!

  Al Gray, Marine

  General, United States Marine Corps

  29th Commandant of the Marine Corps

  Introduction: Marine--Part of the American Soul

  Let me pose a question to you. Do we actually have to learn who the men and women of the United States Marine Corps are? Or is it just an inbred part of our identity as Americans, like baseball and apple pie? Well, no, not really. Nevertheless, the Marines are older than baseball, much older in fact. It's generally accepted that America's birthday is July 4th, 1776, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Interestingly though, the Marines were there first. Their institutional birthday is November 10th, 1775, predating the birth of the United States by fully eight months. Thus, the history of America is the history of the Marine Corps, and they have always been there for us.

  It is perhaps the vision of Marines storming ashore onto a hostile beach that is the most enduring image of the Corps. Their amphibious tradition began in the Revolutionary War with the successful assault on Nassau in the Bahamas (we gave it back). Since then the Corps and its members have been at the crossroads of American and world history. Later, our first overseas assertion of national power was in the Mediterranean to fight the Barbary Pirates--Marine Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon on the "Shores of Tripoli," successfully attacking Derna and winning the Mameluke sword, which is still part of the uniform today. Marines also helped to raise the Bear flag in California. Marines even captured John Brown at Harpers Ferry, while under the command of two native Virginia Army officers, Colonel Robert E. Lee and Captain J.E.B. Stuart. When World War I came, Marines so impressed the French in 1918 that the forest they captured (Belleau Wood) was renamed in their memory. In World War II, Marines engaged in America's first major ground actions when we took the offensive against Japan on the steaming island of Guadalcanal in Operation Watchtower. During the Korean War, Marines anchored the stop line around Pusan, and then blew the Korean War wide open with their dramatic landing at Inchon. Almost everywhere our country has gone in the last twenty-two decades, the United States Marine Corps was the team that knocked on the door--or just kicked it in! Marines have even led us into outer space. The first American to orbit the earth--Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn, Jr. (now the senior senator from Ohio)--was a Marine aviator. They do get around.

  The Marines have a global reputation. Whether it's fear or respect--probably a little of both--people around the world know exactly who the U.S. Marines are. At the Royal Tournament in London back in 1990, I saw the U.S. Marine Corps Band welcomed so warmly as to make me wonder if the British thought it was theirs. Clearly the Marines have a highly developed sense of public relations, but all that does is make people aware of who they are and what they've done. The Army's 82nd Airborne, the proud "All American" division with its bloused pants and jump wings, calls itself "America's Honor Guard," but look outside the White House and you find Marines. Probably there is no more easily recognized symbol of our country anywhere in the world--aside from the Stars and Stripes itself--than a Marine in dress uniform. What does it mean? It means the Marines are America. The Corps is an organization in which legend and fact intertwine to the point that you have to believe it all, because it really is true, ought to be, or soon will be. As recently as this last summer, in the science-fiction movie Independence Day, who saved the world from destruction? A Marine fighter pilot (ably played by actor Will Smith), of course.

  The United States Marine Corps is America's national SWAT team. When there is trouble, they usually get there first. Their lifelong partnership with the U.S. Navy sees to that, since almost every nation in the world is accessible from the sea, and the Marines can appear like a genie from a bottle, deployed by helicopter from ships well beyond the horizon, projecting force within minutes of the President's phone call. Why? Lots of reasons. To rescue American citizens. To render disaster assistance. To stabilize a dangerous situation. To begin the invasion of a country to be liberated from tyranny. To do almost anything, because the Marine Corps by its nature is both a sharp and flexible instrument of national policy, with a lot of weight and power behind it.

  Weighted? Flexible? These are terms that may not seem applicable to the "devil dogs" of the Corps. You would be wrong to assume this though. The Marine Corps is a package deal. Under the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) structure that every unit of the Corps fights from, you get almost every kind of combat powe
r that can be imagined. Mostly you get riflemen--because every Marine is a rifleman. Tankers, artillerymen, helicopter and fixed-wing aviators, all one integrated MAGTF force package whose members all wear the same uniform, attend the same schools, pass the same standard tests, and talk the same language. Their Navy brethren are kind enough to provide transport, logistics, and medical corpsmen--and heavier air and fire support if any is needed. As a result, person-for-person, the United States Marine Corps may be the most dangerous group on the planet.

  Weighted? Flexible? But how about smart? Somewhere in their history, the members of the Corps seem to have gotten a reputation for being simple-minded "jarheads." Let me tell you here that this is a major misconception. Marines have been among the most innovative of the world's military forces. Consider the following: there have been five major tactical innovations in twentieth-century ground combat. They are:* Panzerblitz (Armored Assault): The use of heavy mounted formations was systematized by Hans Guderian of the German Reichwehr in the early 1930s. From this came the development of the large armored formations that were the spearheads of the campaigns in Europe in World War II. Since that time, armored units have been the cutting edge of the world's ground forces.

  * Airborne Assault: The idea of dropping light infantry by parachute into an enemy's rear actually dates back to Ben Franklin in the late eighteenth century--he proposed using balloons to lift the troops. The idea was then resurrected in 1918 by General Billy Mitchell, though the Germans were the first to use them in combat against France and the low countries in 1940. Later, airborne assaults would be executed by all the major powers in World War II.

  But, what about the other three?* Amphibious Assault: This particular concept resulted from the British disaster at Gallipoli during World War I. After the Great War, two Marine colonels studied that campaign, diagnosed its failures and found in them both a formula for success and a mission for the Corps. Also called "Combined Operations" (by the British), Amphibious Assault almost overnight became a recipe for success. The Marine Corps wrote the cookbook.

  * Close Air Support: The use of aircraft to support ground troops is another Marine innovation, practiced and perfected in the "Banana Wars" of the 1920s, and brought to the point that no American fighting man feels entirely clothed without aircraft overhead--preferably piloted by Marines.

  * Airmobile (Helicopter) Assault: The technological perfection of the airborne assault, this concept was first used by Marines following Korea (they called it "vertical envelopment") to deliver riflemen and their support units in cohesive packages to decisive points behind the enemy front lines. It's both safer and more effective than falling from the sky in a parachute. With the addition of supporting attack helicopters, airmobile units are among the most mobile and well-armed in the world.

  In short, for tactical innovation, the score for this century is U.S. Marine Corps 3--the World 2. All this from the smallest of the uniformed services in terms of size and budget. And some would tell us that Marines are dumb? Like a fox.

  In this book, I'm going to take you on a tour of the most "Marine" unit left in the Corps today: the Marine Expeditionary Unit--Special Operations Capable (MEU [SOC]). In the seven MEU (SOC)s currently in existence, the Corps has placed the bulk of its amphibious and airmobile assault capability, and packaged them into battalion-sized MAGTFs that are forward deployed into trouble areas of the world. In this way, national leaders and regional commanders have a "kick-in-the-door" (the Marine leadership likes to call it "Forced Entry") capability that is right where it needs to be. We'll be looking at the 26th MEU (SOC), which is one of three such units in the East Coast rotation. Along the way, I think that you will be able to get a feel for the people and equipment that make up the 26th, and the Corps in general. You should, when finished, have a much better understanding of why I believe in Marines: their missions, their people, and their traditions. America's "911 Force."

  Marine 101: Ethos

  From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli,

  We will fight our country's battles in the air, on land and sea.

  First to fight for right and freedom, and to keep our honor clean,

  We are proud to claim the title of United States Marines.

  --Marine Corps Hymn

  "Marine." Say the word to any American, and you can count on a strong reaction. The word brings a vivid image to the mind of every American listener--perhaps John Wayne in The Sands of Iwo Jima or Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. Outside the United States, there are equally strong reactions, both positive and negative. Like other American icons such as Harley Davidson, Disney, and FedEx, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) is known as an institution that works. When the world throws problems at an American President, it is often Marines who are sent to make them right.

  This book will focus on one of the basic building blocks of today's Marine Corps, the Marine Expeditionary Unit--Special Operations Capable, or MEU (SOC). It is a rapid-response unit, patrolling a dangerous world while waiting for the President of the United States to get a "911" call for armed intervention. Currently, the USMC maintains seven MEU (SOC)s: three on each coast, and one on Okinawa. Two or three of these units are deployed aboard ship into forward areas at any one time. Each MEU (SOC) is a self-contained naval/air/ground task force, capable of putting a reinforced Marine rifle battalion (over one thousand men) ashore. For decades, MEUs have provided U.S. Presidents with the ability to project power from the sea. MEUs (they were then known as Marine Amphibious Units or MAUs) led the way into Grenada and Beirut in 1983, and were among the first forces sent to Saudi Arabia when the 1990 Persian Gulf Crisis erupted. They were there when the first peacekeeping and relief forces went into Somalia in 1992, and were there again for the evacuation two years later. And MEUs are out there right now as you read this, training and staying ready, just in case they are needed.

  This book will take you inside one of these units, and through it, inside the USMC as a whole. As you meet the people in the MEU and examine their equipment, I think you will learn why they represent an irreplaceable asset for the United States, an asset that's even more important today than it was just five years ago. You will come to understand how they work, their dedication and the personal sacrifices they make. For these are truly the people who stand guard on the walls of freedom, while the rest of us sleep safely in our homes.

  Marines practice at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Regular exercises keep these Sea Marines some of the best combat infantry in the world today.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  The Marine Corps Edge: Ethos

  In my earlier books Armored Cav and Fighter Wing, the first chapter was devoted to an examination of critical technologies that give a particular service its combat edge. But in this book, things have to be a bit different. This is because most of the Marine Corps technology base is shared with the other three services. In fact, except for amphibious vehicles and vertical/short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft design (VSTOL), virtually every piece of equipment Marines use was developed by, and even bought for the Army, Navy, or Air Force. From rifles and uniforms to bombs and guided missiles, the Marines know how to get the most out of a Department of Defense dollar.

  You might ask why we even have a Marine Corps, if all they do is use other folks' equipment and wear their clothes. Well, the answer is that Marines are more than the sum of their equipment. They are something special. They take the pieces that are given to them, arrange them in unique and innovative ways...and throw in their own distinctive magic. There is more to military units than hardware. There is the character of the unit's personnel: their strengths, experience, and knowledge, their ability to get along and work together amid the horrors of the battlefield. There is an almost undefinable quality. That quality is the Marine Corps' secret weapon. Their edge. That quality is their ethos.

  Ethos is the disposition, character, or attitude of a particular group of people that sets it apart from others. It is, in short, a trademark set of values that gui
des that group towards its goals. The Corps has such an ethos, and it is unique. And it explains, among other things, why the Marines' reputation may well frighten potential opponents more than the actual violence Marines can generate in combat. Now, you may be thinking that I've gone off the deep end, comparing an abstract concept like ethos to hard-core technologies like armored vehicles or stealth fighters, but the "force-multiplier" effect on the battlefield is similar--an overmatch between our forces and those of an opponent. Trying to quantify such a concept is a little like trying to grab smoke in midair. To say that it is "X" percent training or "Y" percent doctrine is to trivialize what makes Marines such superb warriors. It is also probably inaccurate. Therefore, I think it is quite appropriate to explore what makes a Marine, any Marine, different from an Army tanker or an Air Force fighter pilot.