Things have been busy, for all the lack of general updates. I’m a contributor to the latest SOFREP ebook, The ISIS Solution, available for pre-order on Amazon. This was a short-fuse project; between about five of us, we got it knocked out in about a week. Here’s the cover: It comes out on November 18. Meanwhile, I’m working on the next Jed Horn story, Nightmares, set some time before A Silver Cross and a Winchester. This will be the story of Jed’s introduction to the Order and his first “case.” I think it’s coming along a little bit more cohesively than the first, personally. The next Praetorian book, tentatively titled Hard Target, is also in the works; the research phase has begun. This one’s going to be complicated. (I know, it’s not like the others are…) Jeff and his team are going somewhere a little less dry, although just as hot, and the players are a little more diverse this time. I don’t want to give too much away, but this one will be touching on things a little bit more global in scope. I’ve also started outlining a science fiction story. It actually jumped out at me while re-working a
What a Marine Recon Team Looks Like
Dirty, tired, camouflage-painted, trousers ripped, armed to the teeth, and overloaded. Okay, so that’s what the guys on the Recon team look like most of the time. The team itself has evolved a bit due to operational requirements, equipment limitations, and force protection requirements established by higher. Over the years since Vietnam, the Recon team has ranged from four-man Force Recon Stingray teams to entire Recon platoons going out as one. Read the rest at SOFREP.
A Brief, Recent History of Force Recon and MARSOC
There have been some questions lately as to what exactly the difference is between Force Recon and MARSOC. Aside from the fact that Special Operations Marines now have their own MOS, a lot of it comes down to recent history. In 2003, MCSOCOM Detachment One was stood up, commanded by a former commanding officer of 1st Force Recon Company, Col Robert Coates. Detachment One was a pilot program to see if Marines could make a worthwhile contribution to USSOCOM. As part of the program, the 81 Marines and 5 Navy Corpsmen went through NSW certification, then deployed to Iraq in 2004 with NSW Squadron One. While there was some friction with the Navy side of the house, it was determined by JSOC that the Marines were quite capable of conducting Special Operations missions, specifically Direct Action and Special Reconnaissance. In 2006, Det One was dissolved, and 1st and 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalions were stood up. In order to accomplish this, 1st and 2nd Force Recon Battalions were dissolved, with approximately 3/4 of their personnel going to the MSOBs, and the other 1/4 going to 1st and 2nd Recon Battalions as the Delta or Deep Recon Companies. All of 1st