http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/hts.../20131021.aspx
U.S. Marine Corps Commandos Move Out Of Afghanistan
October 21, 2013: The three U.S. Marine Corps special operations
battalions (MSOBs) are being moved out of Afghanistan and assigned
to SOCOM (Special Operations Command) commands. The 1st
MSOB will be assigned to SOCOM Pacific, while the 3rd MSOB will
be assigned to MSOB Africa and the 2nd MSOB will be assigned to
SOCOM headquarters for use wherever the need is the greatest. Each
MSOB has three or four companies each with four 15 man special
operations teams. With support personnel, each battalion has 400-500
men. The Special Operations Battalions provide a combination of
services roughly equal to what the U.S. Army Special Forces and
Rangers do, as well as some of the functions of the Force Recon units.
MARSOC (Marine Corps Special Operations Command) has 2,600
personnel organized into a headquarters, a three battalion Special
Operations Regiment, a Foreign Military Training Unit, and a Marine
Special Operations Support Group. The marines basically lost two of
their four Force Recon companies (one of them a reserve unit) in
order to build MARSOC. Meanwhile, more troops have been added to
division level reconnaissance units, to take up some of that slack. The
Special Operations companies (with about 120 personnel each) can
provide Force Recon capabilities to marine units they are attached to.
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