United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance - History

History

The historical roots of 'Force Recon' companies can be traced back to the antecedent Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion, whose numerous pre-D–Day reconnoitering of enemy beaches during the Pacific campaigns of World War II proved the vitality of the Fleet Marine Force's amphibious reconnaissance doctrine. This unique unit reported directly to the landing force commander, which exercised his availability of receiving important intelligence at his disposal.

Formed initially as a company-size element from the Observer Group, under the command of Major James L. Jones, they were amongst the first—along with the early Navy Combat Demolition Units (the predecessor to the Underwater Demolition Teams )—to embark from submarines; most of their missions complemented those of the NCDU and the UDT. The 'amphibious reconnaissance' doctrine clearly outlined that the recon Marines duties consisted of scouting the littoral areas, or beachhead, to inland; to test the soil permeability of a possible beach landing, or to clear any obstacles that may hinder an amphibious assault, and to observe any sign of enemy activity. The Navy UDT were tasked to provide the same, but from off the coastline to the littoral, or adjacent beach areas.

Jones and his recon Marines scouted the Japanese-fortified beaches and observed the terrain, materials or other entities, primarily reporting to the force commander of any vital intelligence, or mission-oriented importance. Although Jones's Marines were all skilled surface swimmers, they usually inserted by boats—mostly due to the multiple radios they carried, as relaying communication to the landing force commander was paramount; and time means of sending in a platoon-sized element, with any means of heavy firepower (mortars, machineguns, etc.) at their disposal since they were greatly outnumbered and isolated from other major Marine forces, which were still embarked on the destroyer-transport ships.

By the end of World War II, the Amphib Recon Battalion terminated its command; its Marines either filled the ranks of other infantry platoons, or folded into the Scout (Tank) companies, and the newly formed division reconnaissance companies. This force-level reconnaissance element wasn't reestablished until the early-1950s when the Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalions were assembled for preliminary operations in Korea. Their efforts were proven that gaining beforehand the knowledge of the enemy in the event of a major operation was extremely crucial to safeguarding the men, and provided better operational planning.

The Korean War introduced the new concept of using rotary-wing aircraft to the Marine Corps in combat employment for logistics and rapid troop transport. Also, the atomic age was emerging and caused concerns within the military leaders. The Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Lemuel Shepherd acted upon creating an un-institutionalized test unit, the "Marine Corps Test Unit#1" (or MCTU#1), to research and experiment in new and improvised combative tactics, methods in preparing the Marine Corps in operating strategically, in cohesion or against, the use of nuclear weapons.

Many of the conceptual ideas for Force Recon were pioneered by Major Bruce F. Meyers, the test unit's "Reconnaissance/Pathfinder Project Officer" from MCTU #1's Plans and Development (P&D) Section. His position can be seen as an unillustrated subsidiary to an 'operations' (G-6) and 'training' (G-7) officer. Major Meyers tested many methods for the 'Recon Platoon' various innovative techniques and evaluated their results for use for parachuting and pathfinding missions, in conjunction of using its heliborne and aircraft wing assets adding 'deeper' reconnaissance penetration capabilities. This new found capability enabled reconnaissance Marines the extreme advantage of operating further behind enemy lines.

The MCTU#1's Reconnaissance Platoon, commanded by Captain Joseph Taylor, founded and adopted the more modern 'force reconnaissance' doctrine, methods which were instrumented by Major Meyers. They were developing and performing innovative clandestine insertion methods before the Navy SEALs, and the Army's "Green Berets"; techniques such as the submarine locking -in and -out methods, underwater "blow and go" ascends,(NOTE: The first use of scuba, the first lock ins-lock outs, the first use of blow and go, and the first use of the escape trunk for ingress and egress from a submerged submarine underway in the U.S. military was pioneered by U.S. Navy UDT, forebears of the SEALs, in 1947-48) high altitude, low opening, or HALO and (-high opening) HAHO parachute insertions.

MCTU#1 has concluded that parachute reconnaissance and pathfinding capabilities would exist at force-level, the Fleet Marine Force (the highest command echelon of the United States Marine Corps). At first, the concept was to be formed into a "Force Recon Battalion"—this battalion would have as many 'force recon' companies as there were division-wing MAGTFs in the Marine operating forces. Recognizing the limited budget during the fiscal year of 1957, it was recommended that instead, it be formed at company-sized elements, for the west and east coast. In July 1957, The MCTU#1 was amalgamated into the existing 1st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion; the next day, the battalion cased its colors and redesignated it as "1st Force Reconnaissance Company". Although the test unit was no longer operating, Meyers continued to research and test more innovative methods.

Major Meyers and his top swimmers and senior officers of the company would test and train in submarine lock-in and -out methods and ascending techniques. While cross-trained by the Navy's Master Divers, they learned the operation of the early rebreather systems, and advanced open water swimming. Meyers understood that his recon Marines will be operating 50 to 150 miles away from their littoral or operating area, or from any naval support; in order to get his Marines out of a "hot" area, extraction techniques needed to be developed. Bruce Meyer's 1st FORECON, along with 1st Recon Company and 1st Marine Aircraft Wing were aware of the McGuire and STABO systems that were used by the United States Army's Special Forces and agreed that it had defects and disadvantages. The Marine Corp created a system that was more simplified rig that had greater capacity, the Special Personnel Insertion and Extraction (SPIE) rig.

The CIA's highly secretive Special Activities Division (SAD) and more specifically its elite Special Operations Group (SOG) recruits operators from Marine Force Recon. In addition, joint Force Recon and CIA operations go back to the famed MACV-SOG group during the Vietnam War and still exist to this day.