In a National Security Emergency, Do You Call the Marines or the SEALs?
 

Spoken like a true Marine........ Let's just stand down Army SOF and allow the Marines with their "unique capabilities" to become the global "go to" force of choice! (I know none of you guys have ever been deployed in peacekeeping or disaster relief operations. ;))



2/15/2012
In a National Security Emergency, Do You Call the Marines or the SEALs?

The Marine Corps prides itself on its niche role as the nation’s “911” quick response force that gets called to deal with dicey security crises.

But it’s been the Navy SEALs that of late have garnered the spotlight and captured the public’s imagination as the go-to force.

“You can’t pick up a paper without seeing some reference to special operations forces, and I am very proud of that fact,” Adm. William McRaven, who heads U.S. Special Operations Command, said earlier this month.

Navy SEAL elite amphibious operators cornered and killed Osama Bin Laden in May, and most recently, rescued hostages who had been held by Somali pirates. Special operations forces, which include Army, Air Force and Marine Corps components, also are key players in the Obama administration’s counterterrorism campaign involving strikes with unmanned drones.

Obama’s 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance says special operations forces will increasingly be relied upon to "help address national security threats and challenges on a global scale ... given their ability to operate in a wide range of environments and undertake tactical actions that produce strategic effects," notes Rick “Ozzie” Nelson, director of the homeland security and counterterrorism program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In addition, McRaven recently has requested that U.S. SOCOM receive greater authorities to deploy SOF and launch operations across the globe. “Such authorities would allow SOF capabilities to be brought to bear with greater speed and flexibility in regions such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America,” Nelson says. If McRaven’s proposal is accepted, it would “solidify SOF’s increasingly prominent position as a truly global force.”

SOCOM is the only major component of the U.S. military that is growing in size and budget.

The expanding clout of special operations forces, however, should not be seen as coming at the expense of the Marine Corps’ traditional role in crisis response, said Lt. Gen. Richard Mills, Marine Corps deputy commandant for combat development and integration.

There is no SOF intrusion into Marine turf, Mills said Feb. 15 following a speech at the Defense Strategies Institute’s Expeditionary Operations Summit, in Washington, D.C.

“I am a big believer in special operations forces,” Mills said. “They’re great. But they do what they do.”

As to who gets to be the nation’s go-to 911 force, it depends, he said. “If you say they’re a crisis response force, I would say, what crisis? … When you look at the whole spectrum of what a crisis can be, it can anything from humanitarian relief, natural disaster response, terrorism, civil war.”

Special operations forces “fit in someplace there but there are cases when you need a different force with different capabilities,” Mills said. “The capabilities we provide are unique. I don’t think you deploy special operations forces to a disaster relief operation, I don’t think you deploy special operators to a peacekeeping situation where you need forces on the ground to stabilize a crisis.”

The Marine Corps, “with all due modesty, provides a much longer, much wider capability,” Mills said. “We become more valuable as a general purpose force, as a crisis response force for the entire spectrum” of crises, he added.




http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.o...st.aspx?ID=676

I mean no disrespect to the Marines but if they think that SOF are not needed in Peacekeeping ops. then I wish to ask if the Marines were the only ones present in say a UN peacekeeping op. and some of their own were to be captured by rebels could they with no SOF assistance could they pull off an Operation Barras themselves if they think "We are the 911 and SOF shouldnt be involved in peacekeeping ops.".

The Marine Corps, “with all due modesty, provides a much longer, much wider capability,” Mills said. “We become more valuable as a general purpose force, as a crisis response force for the entire spectrum” of crises, he added./Quote/LT.Gen. Richard Mills/USMC


The end is nearer than many realize.........:( :( :(

Big Teddy :munchin

Depends on whats needed from the tool box
 

Depends on whats needed from the tool box.

Do you need 120 folks standing around one buiding with bayonets fixed or 120 folks broken up into 12 each 10 man groups spread all over the counry facilitating things.

A hammer does not work as well as a coping saw if you're trying to cut out a puzzle piece and it's hard to pound a railway spike with a framing hammer..

Apples to Oranges...
 

As an Infantry Marine I honestly don't see why anyone would even attempt to make this comparison. In my opinion, the various services and units each offer a unique set of skills and to make a comparison between the two is much like asking if a hammer is a better tool than a wrench. I have been on missions and worked hand in hand with some SOF units, that doesn't mean that we're the same...They did what they do best and we did what we did best, in the end the mission was accomplished. I am far from an expert and I have only served as a Marine Grunt so my perspective is admittedly narrow. Just my $.02

Marines must be worried about keeping their squad photographer and journalist positions. If you wanna see a ruckus, just wait until the SEALs have to choose between their hairdryers, tanning beds, and bowflex gyms. ;)

And so it goes...

Richard :munchin

All I need to know is who we deployed to NO in response to Hurricane Katrina, and if memory serves, it wasn't the Marines.

Memory is a funny thing like that...
Units from the US Marine Corps DID deploy in response to Hurricane Katrina, also for the recent earthquake in Haiti, the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and most recently the relief effort in Japan. There's probably a dozen more other places they have deployed to provide assistance that I have neglected here, this is just the hot spot list.

However, if the only tool you own is a hammer...all of your problems will start to resemble a nail.

I think maybe the good Lt. General is right. SOF forces kinda suck at "Peacekeeping" too much standing around and the need for a Burger King to be built.

Now, on the "Peacemaking" front I can't think of a better more mature bunch of guys to carryout the task. :lifter

Reminds me of a lot of the motardation that we had to listen to. I'm waiting for the Corps to come out with a study of how Marines are genetically superior to their peers in other services.

Btw, every branch of service was down here for Katrina. Quite frankly I'm sad to see my parent service once again trying to sweep honorable service by other fellow Americans under the rug for their own gain. This is budget cut propaganda as the Corps is feeling that it may not be the most popular kid in school anymore.

Love the Corps, but we seriously need some real historians pull our institutional head out of the sand when it comes to history.

Okay...do I call Charlie Sheen, Clint Eastwood, or The Duke?

That isn't such a tough decission to make.

Seriously, though, I'd send whoever is closest and ready at the time, and given the reach of SF throughout the world makes them prime to be just about near or in the hotspots already, go figure.

Of course joint operations, and multi tiered operations could be in line as well.

One of the martial tactics of old Asia (Japan, China, Mongolia...) was for the experienced warriors to hang back a bit on the battlefield and watch the subordinates fight it out with the enemy. This way the more experienced could buy a little time to asses the enemy more accurately and also determine who on the battlefield was the biggest threat. Then they (those who were hanging back and assessing) would go into battle.

It of course cost the lives of those with less experience, but probably not as costly had all been engaged without understanding just how things were developing on the battlefield.

Probably my 2nd or 3rd go-around at seeing these nepotistic post-conflict rice-bowl cycles. Sounds to me like a commander who can't put parochial roots aside and might not be the optimum guy for the job. From the bleachers it seems that SOF slices that include intensive mentoring in how to submerge their ego in deference to the overall mission are in short supply.

Could be one place still doing that...

Very well said...and with many applications outside the military.

Personally, budget-wise, it's time to get rid of the USMC and create a 'naval infantry' division in the US Army.

As if, a mechanic is the same as an infantryman. US Army says 'no' - USMC
says 'yes'! You decide.