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Old 08-27-2011, 12:27 PM
dragoon500ly dragoon500ly is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: East Tennessee, USA
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I asked the jarhead in my office about calling such formations "Raiders", as I understand this the Marines never really wanted to form Raider Battalions in WWII to begin with, it was pressure from FDR (one of his sons was with the 2nd Raider Battalion) that led to the creation. The Marine viewpoint is that every Marine is qualified to perform any combat mission and there was no need to waste resources on Raiders or Paramarines.

As 1944 rolled in, FDRs son was transferred back to the states and within a couple of months, the Raider Battalions were deactivated and the personnel transferred into the 4th Marine Division.

Of intrest is that ever since, the USMC has opposed the formation of Raider Battalions.

So where do the Force Recon Companies come from? As the Navy moved away from the UDT teams in favor of SEALs, the Marines still maintained a need for a dedicated reconnaissance element for amphibious warfare, hence the development of the Force Recon to fulfill the role.
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