Snaquebite
02-29-2008, 14:05
Here we go......
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/02/marine_scmagtf_022908/
By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 29, 2008 13:39:12 EST
The Corps’ new conceptual, pre-emptive strike force will take on general-purpose advisory roles that are now tasked to Army Special Forces units, freeing up the elite fighters for other missions, according to a Marine official.
The plan to create Security Cooperation Marine Air-Ground Task Forces, which Commandant Gen. James Conway signed off on the week of Jan. 28, is part of the service’s strategy for handling the “long war” beyond Iraq and Afghanistan and getting Marines back aboard ships.
The new SCMAGTF units will be considered “eyes forward” for the U.S. military, and will assist partner nations with military training and civil-military operations, according to a briefing document explaining the plan. They will be made up of ground, logistics and aviation combat elements, and will resemble a Marine Expeditionary Unit, but will work on land instead of the sea.
While the SCMAGTFs will take on general-purpose military advisory roles similar to those assumed by Special Forces, they will not be assuming special operations training missions, said Col. Robert Abbott, head of the plans section within the Plans, Policies and Operations division at Marine Corps headquarters.
Some aspects of the SCMAGTF training missions will be similar to those of special operations forces, such as the Army’s Green Berets and the Marine Special Operations Advisor Group. They will help advise foreign militaries, Abbott said in an e-mail, “but the advisory missions that are conducted by [special operations forces] generally tend to be more complex and reflecting capabilities that exceed the capacity of general-purpose forces to perform,” he said.
The Corps’ current commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, however, have hamstrung the service from moving forward on the plan. The strategy will not likely be fully realized for at least five years, and is dependent upon a drawdown in Iraq, Abbott said by phone.
“Currently, nearly everything we have is committed toward the Central Command and the war in Iraq,” he said.
But it is the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — putting a strain on both general and special-purpose forces available to do such work — that have created the need for the SCMAGTFs, he said.
Creation of the new unit does not mean special operations forces aren’t able to handle the training missions, but instead indicates some can be handed off to general-purpose forces, Abbott said. In doing so, it gives the elite forces more operational flexibility for those missions that only they can perform, he said.
“The demand for forces coming from regional combatant commanders to conduct security-cooperation activities currently exceeds the forces available to support all the missions,” he said.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/02/marine_scmagtf_022908/
By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 29, 2008 13:39:12 EST
The Corps’ new conceptual, pre-emptive strike force will take on general-purpose advisory roles that are now tasked to Army Special Forces units, freeing up the elite fighters for other missions, according to a Marine official.
The plan to create Security Cooperation Marine Air-Ground Task Forces, which Commandant Gen. James Conway signed off on the week of Jan. 28, is part of the service’s strategy for handling the “long war” beyond Iraq and Afghanistan and getting Marines back aboard ships.
The new SCMAGTF units will be considered “eyes forward” for the U.S. military, and will assist partner nations with military training and civil-military operations, according to a briefing document explaining the plan. They will be made up of ground, logistics and aviation combat elements, and will resemble a Marine Expeditionary Unit, but will work on land instead of the sea.
While the SCMAGTFs will take on general-purpose military advisory roles similar to those assumed by Special Forces, they will not be assuming special operations training missions, said Col. Robert Abbott, head of the plans section within the Plans, Policies and Operations division at Marine Corps headquarters.
Some aspects of the SCMAGTF training missions will be similar to those of special operations forces, such as the Army’s Green Berets and the Marine Special Operations Advisor Group. They will help advise foreign militaries, Abbott said in an e-mail, “but the advisory missions that are conducted by [special operations forces] generally tend to be more complex and reflecting capabilities that exceed the capacity of general-purpose forces to perform,” he said.
The Corps’ current commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, however, have hamstrung the service from moving forward on the plan. The strategy will not likely be fully realized for at least five years, and is dependent upon a drawdown in Iraq, Abbott said by phone.
“Currently, nearly everything we have is committed toward the Central Command and the war in Iraq,” he said.
But it is the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — putting a strain on both general and special-purpose forces available to do such work — that have created the need for the SCMAGTFs, he said.
Creation of the new unit does not mean special operations forces aren’t able to handle the training missions, but instead indicates some can be handed off to general-purpose forces, Abbott said. In doing so, it gives the elite forces more operational flexibility for those missions that only they can perform, he said.
“The demand for forces coming from regional combatant commanders to conduct security-cooperation activities currently exceeds the forces available to support all the missions,” he said.