MARSOC and Marine RECON UNits: Military or Law Enforcement Fitness - Navy, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, RECON, SEAL, Ranger, Police, FBI

Here is the new breakdown to clear up any confusion with the changes in USMC RECON and the new structure of MARSOC.

RECON still exists! They have simply rearranged the Force RECON teams into MARSOC and the Battalion RECON missions have been largely unchanged. See the details at Camp Pendleton’s Basic RECON Course. But in a nutshell, all future RECON students must attend BRC – BASIC RECON COURSE. You can still do this as a new Marine but you must first qualify after Boot camp and School of Infantry (SOI). The link above will describe the standards that a RECON applicant must adhere to before joining the Marine Occupational Specialty 0321 (RECON Marine). RECON Battalions remained as part of the USMC Divisions and continue to perform missions for the deployed USMC commander. BRC is open to Marines and Navy Hospital Corpsman.

Here is a brief history of USMC RECON and MarSOC:

In recent history(1990s-2005), Recon Battalions were Division assets and focused primarily on Amphibious/Ground Reconnaissance and Surveillance missions. This included both green side and urban R&S.

Then you had the Force Recon Company, which was a completely separate unit that was a Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) asset. They were primarily the Close Quarter Batlle (CQB) platoon and had a deep reconnaissance mission set. In reality, as much as no one really wanted to say it, Force was the senior unit. Guys would start off in Bn Recon and then move over to Force (Not always, but that's the way it generally worked).

Now enter MARSOC. In 2006, both 1st and 2nd Force Recon Companies became MARSOC. MARSOC was built on the backs of the RECON community and took many of the RECON operators. Since then, the attitude at MARSOC (At the senior Officer/Enlisted level) has become one of animosity towards 0321's. So the Force Companies went away and weren't stood back up, in name, until like the 2009/2010 timeframe. There was a lot of transition and name changing during that time.

So here's what we have right now as of 2012:

There are three Recon Battalions.

- 1st Batt is out at Camp Pendleton, CA.
- 2nd Batt is out of Camp Lejeune, NC.
- 3rd Batt which is out at Camp Schwab, Okinawa.

The Battalion is broken down into three Companies (A, B, C) the Force Recon Company, and a Headquarters and Support Company (H&S ). Recon Battalion is controlled by their respective Marine Division and support the Marine Expeditionary Units (MEU) with a Recon Plt. Additionally, the Battalion had been doing deployments for the Division directly to support OEF and any other taskings from the Marine Division.

The Force Recon Company supports the MEU's and is Operationally Controlled by the Marine Expeditionary Force (The Parent Command of the Division). However, Force is still administratively controlled by the Recon Battalion and pretty much still gets tasked by the Division.

Recruiting Programs for Enlisting into RECON:

There is still the 0321 enlistment program. Here's what it will look like:

- Bootcamp-13 weeks

- Infantry Training Battalion, Basic Rifleman Course-12 weeks, either at SOI-East or SOI-West

- Report to Marine's Awaiting Reconnaissance Training Platoon (MART Plt) - This is the new RIP (RECON Indoc Program).
It's a semi-formalized course that is taught at the BRC Schoolhouse at Camp Pendleton. Students will be in MART for anywhere from 4-8+ weeks. A lot depends on the student, how many seats are open in the next BRC class, etc. This is a prep course (Similar to BUD/S Prep Course) and also a place for guys that get rolled back to go and wait for the next course to start.

- Basic RECON Course - BRC - Twelve weeks of advanced training that is challenging both physically and mentally. The course is located at Camp Pendleton with the exception of a two week Amphibious Phase in Coronado on the bay side of the Naval Amphibious Base.

There is also a pipeline that is setup so the RECON candidates will go to BRC, then to Airborne, SERE and Marine Combatant Diver Course in Panama City.

The RECON PFT is more involved and in-depth. Here's what the new Reconnaissance Physical Assessment Test (conducted Annually):

It will be broken down into 2 separate tests. The first test is the RPAT and the second test is the SOCOM Dive Screener (Aquatics Confidence Test).

The RECON candidates start off with the standard Marine Corps PFT and CFT.

RECON Physical Assessment Test (RPAT) - 500 yd swim, pushups, situps, pullups, 1.5 mile run in boots / pants, 12 mile 50 # ruck, and two USMC obstacle courses.

RECON Aquatics Competency Test (RACT) - This is a variety of skills required of any Special Operator. To prepare practice swimming underwater 25m, treading water with no hands, floating, bobbing, tying knots underwater (bowline, clove hitch, square knot, right angle knot, figure 8 knot, drownproofing feet / hands tied, standard Navy drownproofing entering water from height, inflating blouse / trousers to float for 10 minutes, and entering water with full load of gear and remove gear after submerging.

RECON MISSION: The mission of Force RECON is to “conduct amphibious reconnaissance, deep ground reconnaissance, surveillance, battle space shaping, and limited scale raids in support of the Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), other Marine air-ground task forces, or a joint force.”

All future RECON students must attend BRC – BASIC RECON COURSE taught at the School of Infantry (SOI) West RECON Training Company in Camp Pendleton, CA. The Basic RECON Course consists of three phases:

Phase 1 is four weeks long and focuses on Marine individual physical skills such as running, high repetition PT, obstacle courses, ocean swims with fins, rucking, land navigation, helicopter rope suspension training, communications and supporting arms.

Phase 2 is three weeks long and concentrates on small unit tactics, mission planning and includes a nine-day exercise in full mission profiles.

Phase 3 is two weeks and focuses on the maritime mission. Held in Coronado, CA, the Marine will conduct amphibious reconnaissance, boat operations and nautical navigation.

You can still try out for RECON as a new Marine recruit, but you must first qualify after Boot camp and School of Infantry (SOI). The RECON applicant must adhere to the following standards before joining the Marine Occupational Specialty 0321 (RECON Marine):

· US Citizen, score 105 or higher on the General Technical portion of the ASVAB

· Completed Infantry Training Battalion (enlisted Marines)

· 3^rd Class Swimmer Qualification

· Score at least 225 on your PFT by Phase 1

· No color vision deficiencies

· At least 20/200 vision

RECON Battalions remained as part of the USMC Divisions and continue to perform missions for the deployed USMC commander. BRC is open to Marines and Navy Hospital Corpsman.

For more information see the RECON Websites listed in this article.

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