[USMCRET6391]

Marines ready to stand up Spec Ops Command

By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer

The Marine Corps will official jump into the spec-ops world when it stands up Marine Corps Special Operations Command on Feb. 24 and begins training its first special operations company this spring.

Its commander, Brig. Gen. Dennis J. Hejlik, who’s been nominated to the rank of major general, said the new 2,600-member command will provide “a sea-based special operations force” to theater combatant commanders. “I firmly believe this is the right thing to do,” he said.

As envisioned, “MarSoc” will eventually include nine special operations companies, spread among Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Camp Pendleton, Calif., as well as the Lejeune-based Foreign Military Training Unit. The first Marine Special Operations Company, or MSOC, is slated to start training with the Lejeune-based 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit in May and deploy later this year, officials said. Each company will have between 97 and 118 Marines and sailors, including about 40 reconnaissance Marines who will do direct action and special reconnaissance missions, said Hejlik, 58.

Under current plans, each company will train and deploy with a MEU, which is part of a naval expeditionary strike group. However, operational control of that MSOC will be held by the theater special operations commander, Hejlik said during a meeting Jan. 26 with defense writers at the Pentagon.

Hejlik, acknowledged that officials still have some issues, including command and control of the MSOCs, still to sort out. “The intent is not to rip the gut out of the MEU,” he said. Other issues, including the training pipeline, force recruitment and aviation support, are under review, he said.

As the new command stands up, the Corps’ initial “proof of concept” force, known as Detachment 1, is scheduled to be deactivated Feb. 3 at Pendleton.