MARSOC continues to be an agile force, grounded in both the Marine Corps and SOF ethos. MARSOC units are in high demand among the TSOCs due to a reputation for professionalism and combat-proven small unit tactics, cultural awareness, and operations intelligence integration at all levels. We are Marines first and we bring the strong Marine ethos of honor, courage, and commitment to special operations.
How have the drawdown in Afghanistan, the rise of ISIS, growing operations and potential conflicts in the Arctic, renewed Russian adventurism in Eastern Europe, China’s rapid growth in military capability – and pressures on both Taiwan and Japan – increased emphasis on Africa, etc., had an impact on MARSOC’s training, equipment requirements, and potential future deployments?
Although I will not comment on any specific operational actions we have taken or are planning to take, I can describe what we are doing globally in a general way.
Since the drawdown in Afghanistan, MARSOC has regionalized our operational forces in order to provide better support to the TSOCs in three key regions: U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), U.S. Central Command (CENTOM), and U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM). To that end, MARSOC maintains a persistently forward-deployed reinforced Marine Special Operations Company (MSOC) in each of these three regions. These reinforced MSOCs can execute the full spectrum of special operations, and MARSOC will maintain our forward capability persistently in each region through rotational deployments.
While each deployed MSOC is task-organized according to theater requirements, they share common characteristics. Each reinforced MSOC combines a healthy mix of combat, combat support, and combat service Marines and sailors into a cohesive team. The MSOC can then be employed as a single entity, as separate Marine Special Operations Teams (MSOTs), or in even smaller elements, depending on mission requirements.
As we move forward, I see the demand for small, agile SOF C2 nodes increasing, with MARSOC’s contributions to those requirements increasing as well.
By being forward deployed, the MSOC is more agile in response to emerging theater requirements and more able to conduct sustained, meaningful partner nation engagements in accordance with the objectives of the TSOC in concert with the Combatant Commander’s Theater Campaign Plan.
Although special operations have fared better than most components of the U.S. military in recent years, MARSOC nonetheless has been cut back from its original full operational size goal. How have you adjusted to that?
What I can tell you is, MARSOC currently has an authorized end strength of 2,742 active-duty Marines. From that force, we deploy fully integrated and enabled MSOCs to AFRICOM, CENTOM and PACOM. MARSOC has sufficient critical skills operators (CSOs), special operations officers (SOOs) and special operations capabilities specialists (SOCS) to meet all of our operational requirements.
How do you see MARSOC’s role within SOCOM continuing to evolve into the 2020s?
While MARSOC continues to provide persistently present reinforced MSOCs to three TSOCs, we have also expanded our contributions to overall SOF mission command. We are partnered with Naval Special Warfare Command (NSW) to provide an 0-6 [colonel level] CJSOTF Headquarters in support of the efforts in Iraq, and we are also exploring ways to contribute 0-5 [lieutenant colonel] level command and control (C2) capabilities. As we move forward, I see the demand for small, agile SOF C2 nodes increasing, with MARSOC’s contributions to those requirements increasing as well.