About the Raiders

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US Marine Raiders of WWII

The US Marine Raiders of WWII were the predecessor of all United States special operations forces. Their history is filled with astounding tales of combat actions against the Japanese enemy, to include conducting the initial ground offensives against the Japanese in WWII and participating in turning back the Japanese advance. They were the only ground units to participate in every island assault in the Solomon Islands. Raiders, as individuals or units, were in virtually every island-hopping event in the Pacific War and made the first landing in Japan after its announced surrender. The WWII U.S. Marine Raiders and attached Navy Corpsmen earned 7 Medals of Honor, 141 Navy Crosses, 22 Distinguished Service Crosses, 330 Silver Stars, 18 Legions of Merit, 6 Navy and Marine Corps Medals, 3 Soldier’s Medals, 223 Bronze Stars, and 37 Letters of Commendation.

The first raiders

DET One

Fast forward to 2003 as the Global War on Terrorism began to intensify and the invasion of Iraq loomed, a similar path was being forged by the Marines and Sailors of Marine Corps Detachment One, US Special Operations Command. This “proof of concept” unit was tasked with proving that Marines could successfully operate in the Special Operations world. Deploying to Iraq with SEAL Team One in 2004, the 70 men of Det One completed their mission and proved that the Marine Corps could indeed hold their own as a special operations unit. This “initial USMC force contribution to US Special Operations Command ” was deactivated in 2006 with no follow-on mission or tasking, and Det One Marines were reassigned across the Marine Corps. In the midst of this, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld issued one of his famous “snowflakes” (his short written communications that covered a variety of topics) directing the services to stand-up a permanent USMC component to join the US Special Operations Command.

Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC)

Cementing the USMC presence in Special Operations, the Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC) was activated at Camp Lejeune, N.C. on February 24, 2006. The unit initially consisted of a small staff and the Foreign Military Training Unit (FMTU), which had been formed to conduct foreign internal defense. FMTU was then designated the Marine Special Operations Advisor Group. In the months after the activation of MARSOC, the structure and personnel of both 1st and 2d Force Reconnaissance Companies transferred to MARSOC to form 1st and 2d Marine Special Operations Battalions. Additionally, the Special Missions Branch of the Special Operations Training Group formed the Marine Special Operations School. For more than 10 years, the Marines and sailors of MARSOC have actively ensured the growth and maturity of USMC contributions to Special Operations. To bring things ‘full circle”, on June 19, 2015, the units of MARSOC were officially redesignated as “Marine Raiders” and continued the Raider legacy.