1st Reconnaissance Battalion Command Chronology (1 Jan 2003 to 30 Jun 2003) 1/2

[alethialia]

Ran across this doing research and figured others might be interested. 1st Reconnaissance Battalion Command Chronology (1 Jan 2003 to 30 Jun 2003). It's basically the after action done by Godfather's replacement and covering the invasion. Interesting stuff about what worked, what didn't, etc.

Comments

[kahtyasofia]

No, Raptor was Gilmer. Rideout replaced Gilmer on May 1st (which is why there are two people listed for Company Commander, C Company). Amusingly, both named Brian.

Freakin' dates. And I think Brian and Brad are very much 'names of a generation'.

Heh. Well, he was a little help, refusing Encino Man's order to drop danger-close artie on his guys and all.

Serous question: did Whitmer intervene directly? Or did he just have a well-trained group of guys manning the radios who knew how to read maps and understood correct protocols?

My modern canon knowledge is stuffed in a backpack somewhere in the back of my brain. My warbigbang is set in 1967, so I have transferred the entire GK universe to 1967. It's been necessary to dump quite a lot of the modern universe and infuse it with late '60's society and structure, which is why I probably seem dumber than usual in my comments.

They well could've had longer, but this document only goes through 30 June. Individuals also accumulate personal leave time, much like vacation.

So, have you come across much lately with regard to Recon as it is TODAY? Even if by accident? There was an article on marines.mil last week that confused me and I wonder if the entire program is about to cease to exist in its current incarnation.

[alethialia]

Serous question: did Whitmer intervene directly? Or did he just have a well-trained group of guys manning the radios who knew how to read maps and understood correct protocols?

Yeah, it was Whitmer who took Encino Man's call and refused the strike. From Fick's book:

"I later found out that Major Whitmer was on the other end of the radio, and he was even angrier than I was. He threw the handset down in disgust, screaming about 'that fucking idiot,' whom the battalion staff secretly called 'Shitman'"(229).

...it's probably not a GOOD thing that I remember this type of inane detail.

have you come across much lately with regard to Recon as it is TODAY? Even if by accident? There was an article on marines.mil last week that confused me and I wonder if the entire program is about to cease to exist in its current incarnation.

Do you mean in the post-2005 reorganization where they created MARSOC and put it under U.S. Special Operations Command (because now there ARE "special Marines")? It gets a bit confusing, but as I understand it First Recon does still exist as it did during the 2003 invasion. It's just that now there's also MARSOC, which is separate and has a bunch of Special Operations Teams, most of which were sourced from Force Recon (not to be confused with First Recon).

Since we know Colbert went from First Recon to Force Recon and back again, special operators do have some lateral movement (meaning, if you really wanted to depict him in one of MARSOC's SOTs, it's buyable). That said, MARSOC is under the command of SOCOM (i.e. not the Marine Corps), so I...have doubts about whether Colbert would elect to do so given his eminent respect for other branches of the military ::coughs::.

Wikipedia tells us how First Recon is still active and discusses its 2010 deployment to Afghanistan. If you look at its MARSOC page and scroll all the way to the bottom, there's this handy distinction:

Part of SOCOM: Marine Special Operations Regiment
Not part of SOCOM: Force Recon · Division Recon · other USMC Special Ops Capable

(Where Division Recon is our guys in First Recon.)

Hopefully that helps? That's how I understand it, anyway. I'd love to read the article you found.

[kahtyasofia]

...it's probably not a GOOD thing that I remember this type of inane detail.

I'm really glad you do! I totally remember that segment now. Usually I have a head for those kinds of details but right now, it's filled with things like UNTSO, UNEF, Mixed Armistice Committee and and the Jerusalem DMZ! As soon as I'm done with this, I'm doing a full immersion back into 'modern' GK. I keep wanting to reach for OBA and then remind myself I have to reach for Conduct Unbecoming instead.

Yes! That info on MARSOC is exactly what I was talking about! I've only been paying partial attention to what was going on, sort of dancing around it when I wrote fic, but then this article really made me stop and think. I should familiarize myself with it since it doesn't seem like I'm going to stop writing GK future!fic anytime soon.

Well, at least once I get this epic historical AU done. I hate everyone who encouraged me to write it.

[kahtyasofia]

Oh, and I'll go search out that article. I read it in the last week so retracing my steps shouldn't be hard.

[kahtyasofia]

Took me a bit but here it is.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jul/29/marine-forces-demand-special-operations-grows-afgh/

[alethialia]

Gah, sorry, I finally got a chance to read this. And I can understand why you'd be confused! This article was terribly written, obviously by someone who fails to get the nuance of USMC special forces. She goes on and on about how they were formed in 2006, when what she means is that MARSOC was formed in 2006 (after a lot of resistance about there being no "special Marines") and put under the control of SOCOM. First Recon, otoh, goes all the way back to WWII and remains under the control of the Corps. The formation of MARSOC didn't mean that special forces weren't already operating; it just meant they were operating under the USMC, not the joint command at SOCOM. It's basically a bureaucratic distinction she completely failed to appreciate.

But ANYway. Thanks for linking to that article.

[kahtyasofia]

Got it. Okay, my confusion came from my lack of familiarity with MARSOC/SOCOM which I really need to rectify. It also never occurred to me the writer might not have the facts straight. Which is unusual for me, I'm quite dubious about the press.

I need to look into this for family reasons, anyway. My mother recently found paperwork that showed her father was a founding member of 3rd Recon which used to be out of Pendleton (which is how my family ended up living in San Diego) but is now out of Guam. I promised her I'd put together the lineage and how they fall into the current structure.