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though 1st force is a company, it is administered along the lines of a battalion.
there are approximately 200 marines and sailors in the company. leading the company is the company headquarters consisting of the commanding officer (co), a ltcol, the executive officer (xo), a major, and a sergeant major.
supporting the operational platoons is the s1 (administrative) shop; the s2 (intelligence) section; the s3 (operations); and the s4 (logistics and supply); and the s6 (communications) shop.
under the cognizance of the s3 is the indispensable training cell and the paraloft. the s4 shop has control of the dive and amphibious lockers, the motor transport section, and the armory.
the company has medical and dive personnel assigned from the navy. while corpsmen have always been held in high regard by marines (and for obvious reasons), those corpsmen assigned to force recon are definitely a breed apart. these special amphibious reconnaissance corpsman go through all of the training that the marines in force go through, plus their own advanced combat trauma training. when assigned to the platoons, they are shooters first and foremost, and indistinguishable from their green brothers.
though the table of organization is for six operational platoons, only five are actually funded.
the operational platoons are staffed with a platoon headquarters consisting of a platoon commander (usually a captain), a platoon sergeant (usually a staff sergeant or gunnery sergeant), platoon radio operator (normally a staff sergeant or gunnery sergeant), a navy special amphibious reconnaissance corpsman, and a platoon equipment nco (rigger/ armorer).
there are three, six man teams in the platoon. each team consists of a team leader (ssgt), an assistant team leader (ssgt/ sgt), a radio operator, and three reconnaissance scouts.
the six-man team concept reflects real world experience. the company formerly fielded 4 man teams but there were a number of issues that impacted negatively on the marines. consider that they must jump, dive, or walk in with all the gear necessary to complete the mission. the new surveillance and communications gear is lighter, stronger and more efficient than what it replaces, but there is more of it. less then six cannot carry the equipment necessary for deep reconnaissance missions. equally important is what the team does with a friendly casualty. unless a 4-man team was willing to cache all of its equipment, they would not be able to carry a casualty out.
in deep reconnaissance, survival is based on stealth, and stealth is a by-product of alertness. a 4-man team does not have the numbers to provide an adequate rest cycle while maintaining proper security.
though a deep reconnaissance mission requires that the team not be compromised, the reality of life is that they may. when that happens, the rules change. because they are in the deep battle area, they cannot count on artillery support, and cas and the extract birds may be a long time coming. they must be able to shoot, move and communicate, but unlike a grunt, they are operating in a friendly vacuum. the 4 man team simply does not have enough guns to work as two elements.
the 6 man team also provides the numbers necessary to perform a direct action mission. remember that these missions will take place in a non-permissive (or at best, a semi-permissive) environment. the smaller teams are just an invitation for failed missions and higher casualties.
on the other side of the coin, increasing the team drastically increases the chance of detection. more than 6 and the patrol becomes too unwieldy for clandestine operations.
6 man teams are a compromise, and it is the best available solution.
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