Marines Corps Special Operations Command Detachment One Deactivated

[SR-25]

By: J. STRYKER MEYER - Staff Writer
North County Times, March 2, 2006

Today, with all the pomp, circumstance and military precision that is steeped in Marine Corps history and tradition, the Silent Drill Platoon will perform its complicated drill maneuvers on Camp Pendleton sans verbal commands.

Exactly one week from today, with no pomp or circumstance on Camp Pendleton, the Marines Corps Special Operations Command Detachment One will be deactivated in a quiet, private ceremony.
There is little public notice on next Friday's event because Detachment One brought a unique element to the Marine Corps that is somewhat foreign to its traditional warfaring: Detachment One, or Det One, was the first special operations unit, an 85-member unit based at Camp Pendleton, that was a part of a Navy special warfare squadron that included Navy SEALs.

Det One was activated in the summer of 2003, under the command of Col. Robert Coates, who was the commander of the 1st Force Reconnaissance Company.

In forming Det One, Col. Coates selected seasoned Marines and sailors, men who were physically fit and well trained in the many areas of expertise required of special operations warriors.

These Marines and sailors could perform clandestine insertions into any target area and wreak havoc upon any enemy target or quietly infiltrate to accomplish a mission. They are that good. Second to none.

With Friday's deactivation of Det One, the Marine Corps will shut down one of America's premier special operations units. Det One was created as a two-year "proof of concept" force. Because Det One was under the aegis of a special warfare squadron, little has been written about its accomplishments during a tour of duty in Iraq. Yet, from all generalized reports that I've heard, the men in Det One performed well in Iraq.

What's ironic is that as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is promoting and expanding special operations in the Army and Air Force, seeking a stronger presence and more manpower to hunt down today's terrorists, after Det One returned from Iraq, the unit went months without an assignment.

An Army friend of mine who spent seven years in the Marine Corps before joining Army Special Forces said one of the reasons for the inactivity after Iraq was "the traditional Marine doctrine firmly believes that every person in the Corps is first and foremost a ground-pounder who carries a rifle and traditional generals have a disdain for anyone who is considered special, such as the men of Det One or the men from 1st Force Recon."

Thus, for several months in 2005, there were attempts to simply disband Det One, with no further commitment to spec ops from the Corps. However, Rumsfeld intervened and on Nov. 1, DoD announced the Marine Corps will create a special operations command as a component of the U.S. Special Operations Command, with an authorized strength of about 2,600 Marines and sailors.

Last week, at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Rumsfeld was there when the Marine Corps formally entered SOCOM, joining Army Special Forces, Army Rangers, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the secretive Delta Force, Air Force Special Operations aviation squadrons and Navy SEALs and special warfare boat units.

Contact staff writer J. Stryker Meyer at (760) 901-4089 or jmeyer@nctimes.com.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006...7_563_2_06.prt