Force Recon Marines are the special forces of the Marine Corps numbering only about a thousand men in the entire USMC. Recon Marines undergo more or less the same training as Navy SEALs or Army SF: parachuting, scuba, snow/mountain climb & heli-rappel. Less than 2% of those who join the Corps are selected for training & the washout rate is about 50%.
Bash presented here are 2 versions of Force Recon Marines, one during the early phase of 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' during the highway to Baghdad & the other a later day version in the new digital desert MARPAT with Spartan body armor.
A vivid account of the role of Recon Marines in the push to Baghdad during 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' is documented in the book 'Generation Kill' written by journalist Evan Wright who was embedded with USMC 1st Recon Bn. during the 3 weeks advance. In a nutshell, 1st Recon's objective is to move ahead/adjacent of the main Marine Force in their Humvees acting as bait to draw enemy ambush, earning them the nickname: '1st Suicide Bn.'
Had read the book back in 2005 but had not gotten round to checking out the HBO mini-series televised in 2008. Those who had seen 'Generation Kill' on HBO would do well to checkout the book & for those who read the book vice-versa.
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