The United States Marine Corps (abbreviated USMC stylised as U.S.M.C.) is an elite branch of the military tasked with protecting Naval vessels and bases, mounting expeditionary operations on land, and any other tasks as given by the President of the United States.
The U.S. Marine Corps also has a special tactical force, the Marine Corps Reconnaissance Force - the Marines Recon. This special tactical force consists of groups of Marines specially trained in reconnaissance and cover tactics, and its objective is to to patrol the enemy and report what they find.
The US Marine Corps (USMC) operates its intelligence activities under the Marine Corps Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Enterprise (MCISRE). USMC intelligence activities support the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) by employing all-source intelligence collection methods. Additionally, USMC trains tactical reconnaissance units as part of the MCISRE. These units specialize in direct observation, surveillance, and reconnaissance to support operations.
Novels[]
The United States Marine Corps appears in the novel written by Andrew Kaplan:
History[]
Formed in 1775, the United States Marine Corps has a long and distinguished career as one of the world's most distinguished fighting forces. The Marines gained prominence during World War II, when they acted as the spearhead of the American campaign in the Pacific and established their reputation for impetuosity. During this period, its contingent reached almost half a million men, with its own armored, naval and air support units.
Its primary role has been to act as a Rapid Displacement Force, ready to take action at any time. And so it was in the Korean War where the Marines were among the first to enter the fight defending the perimeter of the city of Pusan in July 1950. After the Korean conflict, the first full-scale military involvement of the United States occurred in 1965 , when Marines fought infantry warfare against the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army in the jungles and rice paddies of South Vietnam.
The 1968 Tet Offensive intensified guerrilla fighting and before long the Marines were involved, mainly in Khe Sanh and Hue. At the end of January, the isolated marine fire base at Khe Sanh was besieged by more than 20,000 enemy soldiers, who maintained constant artillery fire for more than ten weeks. In the imperial city of Hue, the Viet Cong managed to defend the citadel area, and the marines were tasked with driving them out.
Then, for 24 days, terrible street fighting took place, leaving 5,000 Vietnamese dead in its ruins. Despite these victories, external wear and tear and internal public opinion led the United States to begin the process of withdrawing from Vietnam in 1968. Since then, the Marine Corps has demonstrated its value on several occasions, such as the UN intervention in Lebanon in 1982, on the island of Grenada in 1983, in Panama, in Somalia and especially in the Gulf War in 1990.
Marine Recon - USMC[]
Force Reconnaissance companies (abbreviated to 'Force Recon' or FORECON), are U.S. Marine Corps forces capable of carrying out missions with the objective of: providing pertinent military intelligence to the combined combat elements of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF); support subordinate infantry units of the Fleet Marine Force (FMF), on the west coast, Pacific (FMFPac) and east coast, Atlantic (FMFLant). These units are fully capable of operating independently behind enemy lines to perform long-range reconnaissance patrol missions - LRRP (Long Range Reconaissance Patrol), Direct Action (DA), and other actions necessary in support of the Fleet Marine Force. .
Using combined heliborne, river and sea infiltration/extraction methods they are capable of executing unconventional special operations similar to, or to the extent of, USSOCOM's United States Special Operations Forces (such as SEALs and Green Berets), although typically USSOCOM missions Recon and its tasks are different.
Basically, Force Recon today carries out two types of missions that emerged during the Vietnam War, called Key Hole and Sting Ray. These practices have become known today as "deep reconnaissance", or "Green Operations", and "direct action", which are known as "Black Operations".
Key Hole patrols are designed exclusively for reconnaissance and surveillance missions, they are generally lightly equipped and armed with defensive weapons, using evasive techniques to break contact with the enemy if necessary, avoiding contact with the enemy is essential. On the other hand, Sting Ray Operations are exactly the opposite of missions, as they are offensive, FORECON operators are heavily armed and use artillery support and/or naval fire support, if available.
However, what started as a Key Hole patrol could become a Sting Ray if necessary and without warning. FORECON's versatility is demonstrated when missions quickly transform, whether planned or unplanned, from a long-range patrol to a direct action engagement.
Marine Corps Intelligence[]
The Marine Corps Intelligence is the intelligence arm of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and an element of the United States Intelligence Community. The Intelligence Division is responsible for policy, plans, programming, budgets, and staff supervision of Intelligence and supporting activities within the United States Marine Corps. The Director of Intelligence supervises the Intelligence Department of HQMC and is responsible for policy, plans, programming, budgets, and staff supervision of Intelligence and supporting activities within the U.S. Marine Corps as well as supervising the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity (MCIA).
The Department has Service Staff responsibility for Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT), Advanced Geospatial Intelligence (AGI), Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Counterintelligence (CI), and ensures there is a single synchronized strategy for the development of the Marine Corps Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Enterprise.
The Marine Corps Intelligence Activity mission is to provide intelligence services to the Marine Corps and the U.S. Intelligence Community. These services are based on expeditionary mission profiles in littoral areas. It supports the development of service doctrine, force structure, training and education, and acquisition.
