MARSOC: U.S. Marine Corps Special Operations Command

Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC) is the newest component of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), home of the Green Berets, SEALs, Rangers, Combat Controllers, Para Rescue, Night Stalkers (TF160) and other elites. This unit comprises the Marine Corps' contribution to USSOCOM. Like other Special Operations Forces, Its core capabilities are direct action, special reconnaissance, foreign internal defense and irregular warfare among other mission sets.This book covers the history of special operation capable units in USMC from the WW II Raiders and Amphibious Reconnaissance to the post-Korean war formation of Force Recon onto the coverage of potential participation of the USMC in USSOCOM, which was a very controversial topic in USMC since USSOCOM was formed in February 1986. For various reason the USMC was against integration until a re-evaluation following 9/11 and the on-going Global War on Terror. This book covers this turbulent time in a concise manner up to the point of the 2003 pilot program that established DET ONE that evolved into the current MARSOC element, this is probably the best part of the book.The remainder of the book covers men, weapons, equipment and tactics of MARSOC. Basically anyone who has read other similar titles and formatted books will see it is redundant information as all Special Operations Forces (SOF) generally have similar training requirements, weapons and equipment.However it is interesting to read how their training pipeline has evolved to create these formidable operators. The pipeline somewhat mirrors the Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) maintaining a lot of the Green Berets salient training requirements and adding their Marine flavor. The MARSOC qualification Pipeline is broken into various evolutions starting with Assessment & Selection, then onto the Individual Training Course (ITC) which is four phases covering patrolling, scouting, raids, ambush, full mission profiles, communications, demolitions, marksmanship, irregular warfare, evasion and escape. The Advance Linguist Course (ALC) is the next major evolution; this is also when they receive advanced cultural training. Once all the rudimentary operational skills are complete the operators move into Advance Skill Courses which include Free-fall, Dive, Close Quarter Battle, Breaching, ropecraft, Sniping, and a host of other skill-sets.Additionally the book covers current operations and employment in Iraq and Afghanistan.Overall this is a pretty interesting book for the uninitiated to the SOF community and is really one of the only books currently available on MARSOC, so for this alone I recommend this book, but do not expect an academic assessment or treatment of this subject from this book. If you want to read a book on this subject with a little more academic and historical in nature, check out " DET ONE: U.S. Marine Corps U.S. Special Operations Command Detachment, 2003 - 2006: U.S. Marines in the Global War on Terrorism " which is a very good book. Although a brief read I found this book still to be interesting.De Oppresso Liber

This was what I wanted. I wanted to find out what I could about MARSOC, and this book was very instructional. I didn't score it a 5 star because it was a hard read. There was no story line to make it interesting, and reading about all the different weapons, and equipment, while informative, was a little like reading a text book. All in all, I recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about the Marines' new unit.

This book was dissapointing. As I former member of Marine Force Recon I was expecting a detailed accounting of our standards, history, training, and past missions. Instead this book covers all those areas in about three pages. It is heavy into pictures and command structure and comparisons in structure with other special forces type groups. The crux of really interesting information could have been released as a pamphlet. If you don't like to read and just like to look at some cool pictures, this book is for you. If you know anything at all about Marine Recon you will not learn anything new here. This is one of those books you eventually find in a big pile for 75 cents along with other "picture books" with no real substance.

As a former Marine and current US History teacher (both High School and College) this is a good "nuts-and-bolts" book to get an overview of the equipment and some of the selection and training of our newest generation of supreme warriors. There is a very good "30,000 foot level" synopsis of how MARSOC came about as new SPECOP units were formed and strategically where the USMC now fits in the SPECOP community. The history section on previous generations of Marines like Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon and USMC special forces types as seen in Colonel "Red Mike" Edson give a superior picture of the pride generated by United States Marines. Respectfully submitted, K L Roberts

Interesting book, very good information, not for casual reading but for anyone who is interested in the MARINE CORPS as itevolves into the new(?) small(?) conflict warfare role, it shows theweapons and other gear in use.Being a proud Marine who served years ago and carried a BAR, I foundit informative and interesting.A very good reference book.(P.A.) Tony Bergan1956-1960

this is not a true "book". it's more of a basic break down of marsoc's history and how they are organized as well as what weapons they use. i was expecting a book on their thorough history and missions that they are known for. it's more like a tourist book about marsoc.

This is more of a magazine based on MARSOC. I gave it to my younger cousin who is 8 years old. He enjoyed it more than me.

My husband is a retired Marine.. He has read other books on the war but keeps going back to this one and every time he looks at it he gets more and more information which helps him deal with the after effects of that war. Highly recommended.

MARSOCの写真集的な雑誌です。国内ではSEALやレンジャー等の有名な部隊に比べて情報が手に入りづらいMARSOCの貴重な資料です。写真や解説が非常に充実していて、読みごたえ抜群です！

This book is a little light on some details but the photographs are a reference to behold. The US Marines newest offspring is MARSOC (MARine Special Operations Command). They have taken over the role previoulsy held by the US Marine Force Reconnaissance, currently the unit is around 2500 strong and serves in all major theatres. The book is a softback printed on high quality paper. Some of the information is a little brief but in other areas there is enough information remember that some information is restricted. The photographs are stunning and if you are a modeller then this book will certainly fill the in gaps.Highly recommended to those interested in Special Forces, modellers and airsofters.

Informativ und leicht zu lesen, man kriegt einiges an Informationen über die Ausrüstung, hauptsächlich durch die zahlreichen Bilder.

A great read for those who are interested in special forces MARSOC being a smaller part, but no less effective, of the USSOCOM community. I found the history of the unit most helpful telling of the evolution from Force RECON