@ApacheCrewChief
The first Marines taking part in the “Force Recon Detachment Concept” are deploying with Second Battalion, Fourth Marine Expeditionary Unit, with the hope that the change helps the elite force do more with less as hot spots pop up around the globe even as the defense budget shrinks.
Previously, one of the two deployed Recon platoons reported to the lower-level Battalion Landing Team commander instead of the MEU commander, which resulted in poor training because of a lack of understanding at the battalion level of what it took to keep Recon proficient. Recon platoons also found themselves underutilized because tasking authorities had to go through two separate commands to get them involved.
“Now the Force Recon Detachment Concept gives the MEU commander two maneuver assets,” said Master Sgt. Cory Paskvan of the Second Reconnaissance Battalion, based at Camp Lejeune. Paskvan explained that concept is comprised of two Force Recon platoons trained to “light capability” — missions like ship takedowns, precision raids and surveillance — that now fall directly under the MEU’s command element. Planners hope a more direct tasking line results in better training and missions tailored to the full extent of Force Recon’s capabilities.
Change is nothing new to Marine Corps Reconnaissance units. Since the earliest days of Recon — the raider and scout missions of the island-hopping campaign in the Pacific Theater during World War II — the elite warriors have adopted new techniques to accomplish the mission wherever it took them and adapted to whatever Headquarters Marine Corps or the Pentagon demanded of them in terms of force structure or mission focus.
Recon grew in the wake of 9/11 as the need for its unique capability increased with the asymmetric wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Then in 2006, the community was faced with what could be considered its biggest structural challenge to date when headquarters decided the Marines needed a Special Operations Command presence and MARSOC was created.
The first Marines taking part in the “Force Recon Detachment Concept” are deploying with Second Battalion, Fourth Marine Expeditionary Unit, with the hope that the change helps the elite force do more with less as hot spots pop up around the globe even as the defense budget shrinks.
Previously, one of the two deployed Recon platoons reported to the lower-level Battalion Landing Team commander instead of the MEU commander, which resulted in poor training because of a lack of understanding at the battalion level of what it took to keep Recon proficient. Recon platoons also found themselves underutilized because tasking authorities had to go through two separate commands to get them involved.
“Now the Force Recon Detachment Concept gives the MEU commander two maneuver assets,” said Master Sgt. Cory Paskvan of the Second Reconnaissance Battalion, based at Camp Lejeune. Paskvan explained that concept is comprised of two Force Recon platoons trained to “light capability” — missions like ship takedowns, precision raids and surveillance — that now fall directly under the MEU’s command element. Planners hope a more direct tasking line results in better training and missions tailored to the full extent of Force Recon’s capabilities.
Change is nothing new to Marine Corps Reconnaissance units. Since the earliest days of Recon — the raider and scout missions of the island-hopping campaign in the Pacific Theater during World War II — the elite warriors have adopted new techniques to accomplish the mission wherever it took them and adapted to whatever Headquarters Marine Corps or the Pentagon demanded of them in terms of force structure or mission focus.
Recon grew in the wake of 9/11 as the need for its unique capability increased with the asymmetric wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Then in 2006, the community was faced with what could be considered its biggest structural challenge to date when headquarters decided the Marines needed a Special Operations Command presence and MARSOC was created.