Marine Air-Ground Task Force Reconnaissance

The reconnaissance mission within the United States Marine Corps is divided into two distinct but complementary aspects; Marine Division Recon and Force Reconnaissance.

The United States Marine Corps Reconnaissance Battalions (or commonly called Marine Division Recon) are the reconnaissance assets of Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) that provide division-level ground and amphibious reconnaissance to the Ground Combat Element within the United States Marine Corps. Division reconnaissance teams are employed to observe and report on enemy activity and other information of military significance in close operations. Their capabilities are similar to those of Force Recon, but do not normally insert by parachute, and provide limited direct action, whereas Force Reconnaissance companies perform both deep reconnaissance and direct action operations. Some of these missions are shared by Marine Special Operations Teams, a subordinate part of Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC).

History of MAGTF Reconnaissance

The formation of a doctrine

At the turn of the 20th century, amphibious reconnaissance as we know it today in the United States Fleet Marine Force (FMF), was first conceived by a Marine officer, ''then''-Major Dion Williams, who formulated the first official (maritime) naval doctrine concerning intelligence gathering for planning of operations; in theaters of amphibious warfare.

Williams' doctrine outlined a wide spectrum of reconnaissance, which consisted of:
*range determination
*topography (configuration of the ground ities, towns, roads, trails, railroads
* hydrographic survey of rivers and canals
*telegraph cables/lines and wireless telegraphy
*resources (coal, repair facilities, land transportation, electric plants, food supplies, water supply, and hospitals)
*conditions of the harbor and harbor steamers, wharves, docks, water service
*the population (secret service, professions and occupations, naval and military forces)
*existing defenses (location, form and description, armament, field-works, mines/mine fields, searchlights, plans and sketches, available garrisons and strength of forces, avenues of attack, adaptability of the defenses)

He specified in his thesis that these Marines particularly needed to be competent in surveying, cartography, and recording observations, as well as reading previous maps and surveys of various types.

Although there was very little effect in creating a formidable unit because the outset of World War I and the Gallipoli Operations due to the lack of Marine Corp personnel by the Isolationism of 1920-1930s. Also drawbacks concurred while most of the Marine forces were engaged in conflicts of China and Nicaragua.

After World War I, three significant aspects of the second edition of Williams' ''Naval Reconnaissance'' included:
#discussion of additional capabilities of observation from airplanes and submarines
#promulgation of the book under authority of the Secretary of the Navy instead of under the auspices of the President of the Naval War College
#emphasis on information acquisition for long-term planning.

It was this latter emphasis on obtaining information long before hostilities that was perhaps of greatest significance. Rather than obtaining information solely for military operations in progress, Williams now enunciated a more comprehensive mission.

The earliest activities in amphibious reconnaissance was largely limited in surveying of ports, uncharted islands and adjacent beaches or coastlines. Most of these duties were billeted by senior Naval Intelligence Officers that were prerequisites in topography, hydrography, impermanent construction of fortification with the means of rapid encampment and mobilization of troops to operate in their area.

However, another Marine intel officer and amphibious reconnaissance war prophet, Earl H. Ellis, put most of William's concept to effect years later. After fighting in the trenches in WWI, in 1921, Ellis submitted a request to Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC) for special intelligence duty in South America and the Pacific, in which he foresaw the built-up of Japanese naval forces that eventually led to the events of World War II; the Director of Naval Intelligence diligently accepted. It was during his special duty that introduced the most profound accounts of Ellis's intelligence reports. He submitted a 30,000 page Top Secret document concerning his detail discussion of local sea, air and the climate, various land terrain types, the native population and economic conditions. He discussed his reports on strategically seizing key islands as forward-operating bases for project naval forces effectively into the area. His time-tables, mobilization projections, and predictions of manpower necessary to seize certain targets. His maritime intelligence reports became paramount years later for the United States maritime forces, during the Pacific campaigns of World War II.

Testing the doctrine

In the 1920s and 1930s, the Fleet Marine Force (FMF) first tested Williams' conceptual methods of reconnaissance in the fourth series of the Fleet Landing Exercises (FLEX) in the Caribbean; for evaluation in establishing a naval reconnaissance doctrine for the Marine Corps. By 7 December 1933, the Fleet Marine Force was formed at HQMC in Quantico, VA, combining the roles of the Navy and Marine Corps into an integrated maritime (naval) assault force. Shortly after, a new naval doctrine, the ''Fleet Training Publication 167'' was created to ensure long-term purposes.

Although the subsequent tests encompassed more broadly in combined amphibious/ ground reconnaissance efforts, its aerial reconnaissance elements cannot be overlooked since aircraft were both tested for direct combat support and reconnaissance. The aviation reconnaissance assets did not see further scrutiny until the outset of the Korean War.

Before World War II, the first radars were developed for anti-aircraft purposes. These were soon followed by fire control radars for ships and coastal artillery batteries. However, it wasn't until decades later that improvements to technology proved that radar systems were capable of locating artillery guns.

Patrons of the doctrine

From 'sea-to-shore'

The Marine Corps established its first specialized ground/ amphibious reconnaissance unit, the "Observer Group", in 1941, which was formed for the upcoming secretive mission in North Africa (in preparation for ''Operation Torch'')—under the command of Captain James L. Jones Sr. The unit was composed of skilled and highly proficient swimmers from the Army, Navy, and the Marine Corps. Momentarily, the Observer Group was ordered to be decommissioned, but not completely dissolved; the Marine unit was re-institutionalized as the Amphibious Reconnaissance Company. The remaining Army and Navy counterparts formed the "Scouts and Raiders" and continued its deployment to North Africa as planned.Bruce F. Meyers, Swift, Silent, and Deadly: Marine Amphibious Reconnaissance in the Pacific, 1942-1945, (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2004). The Scouts and Raiders are the predecessor to the Navy Combat Demolition Units (NCDU), which subsequently became the Underwater Demolition Teams—the patrons of the prestigious Navy SEALs.

Preliminary—Ground operations

The Amphibious Reconnaissance Company (still under command of Capt. James Jones) was directed to report to the joint-Navy and Army's Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet (ACPF). The United States Navy controlled many joint units of the Army and the Marine Corps. These units represented the sum total of the amphibious forces of the United States, with the exception of small units of the Fleet Marine Force, which had been trained for amphibious raids. The Amphib Recon Company was tasked to provide preliminary reconnaissance for the force commander of the ACPF.

By 1943, the Army ceded their role of amphibious assaults to the Navy and Marine Corps. Subsequently, the Marine subordinate units of the ACPF were re-designated under the full command of the Marine Corps's V Amphibious Corps (VAC)—and the Amphibious Reconnaissance Company shifted alongside under its new command.

In the next following years, the Company increased in manpower and the brevity of upcoming missions, forcing it to be re-designated to full battalion-strength with two active reconnaissance companies; becoming the "Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion". To include, VAC shifted its command under the Fleet Marine Force.

Prior to the arrival of Marines in this area of the Pacific War, the Australians had already established a network of deep reconnaissance agents known as the Australian Coastwatchers. They operated not only on coasts, but deep in jungles as well. Initially, some Marines became part of the unit.

Although, the force commanders of the VAC weren't the only ones to see the true value of ground and amphibious reconnaissance. The subordinate units of the Marine division and regiments resorted to their own avenues of reconnaissance methods.

The I Marine Amphibious Corps (I MAC) and III Marine Amphibious Corps (III MAC) approached its reconnaissance assets more differently than the V Amphibious Corps's (VAC) Reconnaissance platoons. The amphibious reconnaissance platoons of VAC were more associated to preliminary and amphibious reconnaissance, whereas the division and regimental commanders equated their decision-making process using terrestrial reconnaissance.

Reconnaissance-in-force operations

In 1941, Lieutenant Colonel William "Wild Bill" Whaling, the executive officer of 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, established visualized and perceived the use for specialized missions encompassing reconnaissance at the division-level, which would be conducted above the normal infantry battalion-level in scouting and patrolling. He recommended to General Alexander Vandegrift the need of a special "Scout and Sniper unit" for the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal. Soon after, each of the three rifle companies that were used during the Guadalcanal campaign were tasked in sending one their best field craft Marines to devise the scout-sniper unit, with each regiment containing a Scout and Sniper Platoon, within the regimental headquarters and service company.

Momentarily, the regiments requested their scouts to be heavily reinforced with tanks for rapid mobility and increased firepower, to allow their scouting parties to determine a hasty, yet accurate account of their enemies potential and strengths—using a technique known as reconnaissance-in-force (RIF). RIF elicits determination of strength by offensively provoking the enemy for a reaction.

The close of World War II discontinued the use of amphibious reconnaissance, and momentarily the Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion dismantled; all amphibious reconnaissance subsidiaries were under the direct control of the ''only''-remaining division-level reconnaissance assets—ending force-level reconnaissance.

Close-distant operations

The "Scout (Tank) and Sniper" companies later formed the Division Recon Battalions and Scout Sniper Platoons of today. By early-1980s, the Light Armored Reconnaissance units were formed to provide mechanized reconnaissance-in-force for infantry regiments. The responsibilities of the LAR battalions resemble those of the Scout (Tank) companies of World War II.

It wasn't until the highlight of the Korean War that foresaw the re-establishment of force-level reconnaissance; however, only 2nd Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion was created (1st Amphib Recon Bn remained inactive-only to be used as for training new amphibious reconnaissance candidates) in support of the Marine task force commanders' effort in pushing the Socialist Chinese forces north, from South Korea.

Deep operations

The Korean War introduced the new concept of using rotary-wing aircraft to the Marine Corps in combat employment for logistics and rapid troop transport. During the mid-1950s, a recon test platoon from the Marine Corps Test Unit#1 experimented in various parachute insertions for deeper reconnaissance and pathfinding. In 1957, the command staff of the Recon Platoon, MCTU#1 relinquished the command of 1st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion and formed the 1st Force Reconnaissance Company.

When the Force Recon companies were established, they allowed the Fleet Marine Force commanders to obtain information quicker than the slower, processed intelligence that was provided by the division recon platoons, which went through each of the battalion's, regiment's, and division's intelligence sections before reaching the force level.

However, like the fate of the Marine Raiders and the Paramarines of World War II, 1st and 2nd Force Reconnaissance companies were disbanded, albeit temporarily, to make way for the Fleet Marine Force's 'first' unconventional asset that was created within the new Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC). The force reconnaissance companies were replaced under the command of the Marine Division's reconnaissance battalions while maintaining deep reconnaissance and force-oriented reconnaissance under the Fleet Marine Force.

MARSOC absorbs much of the unconventional operations for which Force Recon had been responsible, allowing the force recon platoons to fully exercise their initial role of providing ''deep'' and ''preliminary reconnaissance'' to the Command Element of MAGTF without interference.

Signals intelligence operations

By 1986, new counter-battery radars were introduced. These radars were able to locate many artillery batteries simultaneously. In latter, the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan requested for a small, counter-mortar radar, given 360 degree coverage and requiring a minimal crew, for use in forward operating bases. In another back to the future step it has also proved possible to add counter-battery software to battlefield airspace surveillance radars.

MAGTF Security Operations

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Security operations reduces risk to operating Marine forces from unknown avenues that may conflict in any tactical situation; it encompasses surprise attacks from the enemy, counter-intelligence, and deception in the friendly forces' capabilities and intentions. In relation, reconnaissance operations support security operations by providing information on enemy forces, capabilities and intentions, and by denying the enemy information of friendly activities through counter-reconnaissance.

Through succession, security operations are usually integrated with its reconnaissance operations; in which force commanders acquire during offensive, defensive and other tactical operations. It greatly improves their decision-making process due to the collected information that is much needed to develop situational awareness and commander critical information requirements (CCIR).

The CCIR are designed to feed important, time-sensitive information to the commander so he can make a decision that should dramatically affect the battlespace. The CCIR is collectively, a comprehensive list of high-prioritized information in which a force commander identifies as ''critical''. It is much required to influence and facilitate timely information management and the decision-making process that may help dictate successful mission accomplishment. CCIR is divided into two key sub-components: "critical friendly force information" and "priority intelligence requirements".

Reconnaissance planning

Reconnaissance supports the MAGTF commander's intent and his CCIRs. While contributing to the commander's broad situational awareness and development, reconnaissance assets tailor their efforts to support the specific CCIRs indicated by the commander's intent and subsequent unit intelligence and operations planning. Simultaneously, reconnaissance forces must remain alert to any developments that may cause the commander to reassess that intent.

MAGTF reconnaissance assets are best employed early to support the CCIRs and friendly course of action development and selection. When reconnaissance is initiated early in the planning cycle, planning and execution are driven by the flow of solid, timely information and intelligence. If reconnaissance is delayed, situation development will generally be more uncertain. In this case, planning and execution can either take place in an information vacuum or be driven by the search for such information.

Reconnaissance assets are best employed in general support. Because of the nature of warfare, MAGTF reconnaissance units will most likely be employed in rapidly developing and fluid situations. The main effort may shift quickly from one subordinate element to another. Such situations often require modifications or complete changes in reconnaissance elements’ missions. The MAGTF commander and his staff are usually the most capable of determining the best use of MAGTF reconnaissance assets at any given time, to provide the necessary support, and to integrate the results of reconnaissance information with other intelligence sources. Although placing reconnaissance assets in direct support of some subordinate element or even attaching them to specific units is occasionally appropriate, in general, such support relationships make for inefficient use of specialized reconnaissance forces. Proper planning; the institution of flexible, responsive command and control and intelligence reporting procedures and networks; and clear intelligence reporting and dissemination priorities will ensure that the products of reconnaissance are shared to the maximum benefit of all potential users.

Reconnaissance requires adequate time for detailed planning and preparation. Most reconnaissance focuses on the enemy's activities and intentions to satisfy the commander's need to exploit the enemy's vulnerabilities or to attack his center of gravity. This frequently necessitates operating in and around the enemy's most critical and best defended areas. This normally requires that reconnaissance be conducted over long distances and well in advance of commencement of the operations it will support. These conditions usually dictate specialized methods of transportation, communications and information systems support, combat service support, equipment, and coordination.

MAGTF Reconnaissance Assets

All Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) elements uses its own unique reconnaissance capabilities; the Aviation Combat Element (ACE) utilizes aerial reconnaissance, but the Command Element (CE) and the Ground Combat Element (GCE) operate in combined amphibious/ ground reconnaissance.

Command Element

Force Reconnaissance

The Force Reconnaissance companies report to the Command Element of the MAGTF.Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication 1-0, ''"Marine Corps Operations,"'' (HQMC, 2001) They are used for retaining any information that are held in deep operations under conventional warfare. They are very proficient in various entry and recovery methods in heliborne and waterborne techniques to insert behind enemy lines either by High-Altitude/Low (or High) Opening parachute landings; or combatant diving in submarine surface and subsurface methods. This ensures they achieve and maintain stealth in order to avoid compromising their mission. The Fleet Marine Force's detachable force reconnaissance platoons can operate independently from the support Marine Expeditionary Unit

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