Vignette 10: Makin Island

[wcg]

At 0330 on the morning of August 17th, 1942, Major James Roosevelt slid over the side of USS Argonaut into a black rubber boat off the shore of Makin island in the Gilbert Islands. Jimmy Roosevelt was the executive officer (second in command) of the 2nd Marine Raider battalion, under Lieutenant Colonel Evans Carlson. USS Argonaut was a large

Comments

[wcg]

Indeed it does. I've read those books.

[pernishus]

Dear Bill,

Thank you for the work you are putting in on giving us these very evocative vignettes. I have been reading them with great interest and pleasure. I remember reading my father's very dog-eared copy of Marine! The Life of Chesty Puller when I was a teenager -- your writing evokes those memories for me now.

[wcg]

You're welcome John. They make for good little exercises in concise storytelling.

[xiphias]

Is it common for Majors to actually take part in front-line actions? I thought that, at that level, people were usually, y'know, headquarters-types. I thought that it was very rare for anyone over the rank of, say, Captain, to ever take direct fire . . .

[wcg]

Oh yeah. Marines up to the rank of Colonel routinely go into combat. In the Marine Raiders everyone was expected to do whatever it took to get the mission accomplished. They didn't even wear any rank insignia when they went into action. All the opposing force would see would be a bunch of men in faded dungarees coming up out of the surf with USMC stenciled on their left breast pockets.

Even today in Iraq and Afghanistan the field grade officers are expected to face danger with their troops. It makes for some friction with other services, since they do tend to treat their field grade officers differently.

[lostwanderfound]

(has a quick dig though Wiki about Marine Raiders)

While I can see the appeal of the whole "we're all elite" thingie, it does seem to get in the way occasionally. How are Marinefolk reacting to the new special ops formation?

[wcg]

There's some tension. For several decades, every Marine Expeditionary Unit that deployed was special operations capable. So the position of the Corps was that the Corps as a whole was a Special Operations unit. This didn't fit well with the folks at US Special Ops Command, who wanted something smaller from the USMC. I don't think it's shaken itself completely out yet, but it's not going to until the adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan are over.

[edschweppe]

USS Argonaut was a large submarine that had originally been built as a mine laying sub, but had been converted into a transport for the Marine Raiders to get them close to targets without being seen.

Some things never change -- we're now converting the older OHIO-class missile boats for a very similar role.

Thanks for these vignettes, btw. I especially like how you're not limiting yourself to one time period.