On October 19, 2007, American and Afghan forces loaded up onto UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook from Afghanistan's Korengal Outpost. The mission was Operation Rock Avalanche: an insertion into the southern area of the Korengal Valley to prevent Taliban fighters from fleeing the region while reducing their ability to operate against U.S. and friendly troops there.
This was Salvatore Giunta's second deployment to Afghanistan. During his first tour in the country in 2005, he was shot in the leg and lost four of his fellow soldiers in an improvised explosive device attack. After a year back at home, he deployed once more. Then-Spc. Giunta was the rifle team leader for B Company, 1st Platoon, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team during Rock Avalanche.
Less than a week after landing in the valley, Giunta and his platoon were traversing a steep crest out of the valley when the Taliban ambushed them. By the end of the engagement, the 22-year-old Giunta would be the first living person since the Vietnam War to receive the Medal of Honor.
Firebase Vegas was located in the Korengal Valley near the Afghan-Pakistan border, which the soldiers stationed there nicknamed "The Valley of Death." Operation Rock Avalanche was supposed to be a six-day mission, but the soldiers said insurgents were everywhere. On October 25, 2007, B Company was spread across a mountain. First platoon watched over second and third platoons from nearby Honcho Hill.
Just two days prior, the Taliban killed Sgt. Larry Rougle wounded two others and made off with machine guns and night vision. Their captain, Dan Kearney, went into the village to demand they return the gear. Once Kearney and the command group left the scene via helicopter, the platoons began their long trek back to base through the insurgent-filled night. As they made their way down a rocky slope, the sound of gunfire and RPGs filled the night air.
Giunta saw Sgt. Erick Gallardo fall and ran to his aid, believing he was hit. Gallardo was okay, saved by his helmet, but Giunta took two rounds, one to his own armor and the other to a weapon strapped to his shoulder. The ambush was so heavy and close that Apache helicopters could not provide air support, and the second platoon was too far away to help.
"There were more bullets in the air than stars in the sky," Giunta later told Vanity Fair. "A wall of bullets at everyone at the same time with one crack and then a million other cracks afterward. They're above you, in front of you, behind you, below you. They're hitting in the dirt early. They're going over your head. Just all over the place. They were close – as close as I've ever seen."
The two soldiers were third and fourth in line before the shooting started. Realizing the fire was coming from two directions, they did the only thing they knew could save them from being wiped out: they attacked. They began to return fire and make their way to the soldiers in front of them, suppressing the ambush using grenades. When they reached Spc. Frank Eckrode, the second man in line, they found him wounded. He had been shot four times and was trying to unjam his SAW. Then Giunta realized their point man (and Giunta's best friend), Sgt. Josh Brennan was missing.
As Gallardo tended to Eckstrode's wounds, Giunta raced to the top of the hill, exposed to enemy small arms fire, to find two insurgents trying to carry Brennan from the battlefield. He killed one, which caused the other to drop Brennan's wounded body and make a break for it. Brennan had been hit eight times, so Giunta pulled him back and tried to administer aid as the rest of his squad provided security. It wasn't long before the second and third platoon arrived.
The intense ambush had lasted only three minutes, but five men, including the platoon's medic, were down. Giunta kept Brennan alive long enough for a medevac to get him out of the area, but the man died the next day. Two days later, Giunta was informed that Kearney had recommended him for the Medal of Honor, which was presented to him at the White House on November 16, 2010, by President Barack Obama.
"I'm not here because I'm a great soldier," Giunta said at the ceremony. "I'm here because I served with great soldiers."
True to that sentiment, Giunta would gift his medal to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in July 2017, wanting it to remain with them.
In the earliest years of the Iraq War, the city of Fallujah was one of the most contested cities in the country, but it didn't start out that way. Local citizens had taken control of maintaining order in the city, but a series of misunderstandings between Coalition forces and local leaders soon led to violence and outrage. At the end of March 2004, four private military contractors were massacred and mutilated by insurgents there. The same day, five American soldiers were killed by a massive explosive device near Habbaniyah while en route to Fallujah. The U.S. military decided something needed to be done.
On April 4, 2004, the U.S. launched a massive operation to capture or kill those responsible for murdering Blackwater contractors and the five American troops while pacifying the city. An estimated 10,000 troops, including U.S. Army soldiers from the 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne, 10th Mountain Division, 1st Infantry Division, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, 5th Special Forces Group, and Delta Force operators had tried to pacify Fallujah, but it would be the Marine Corps who entered the city for what was officially known as Operation Vigilant Resolve.
Fallujah was part of the Sunni Triangle, a critical but volatile region in Iraq during the war. It highlighted the complexities and challenges of the post-invasion period, characterized by its predominantly Sunni population, historical ties to Saddam Hussein's regime, and its role as a center of insurgent activity and violence. The region saw intense fighting and resistance to U.S. and Coalition forces for much of the war.
Responsibility for the city was handed to the 1st Marine Division on March 24, 2004. Less than a week later, the murder of the contractors in Fallujah and the American soldiers in Habbaniyah forced the Marine Corps to make a major effort in the city, which was suddenly a hotbed of insurgent activity. The locals called it "the graveyard of Americans." Washington gave the Marines 72 hours to mount a response. They were to capture or kill those responsible for the deaths of the Americans, clear out foreign fighters, and remove any heavy weapons.
U.S. forces surrounded Fallujah with some 2,000 Marines on April 2, 2004. By the morning of April 5, 2004, the city was cut off from the rest of the country, with all roads blocked. A third of the city had already fled, but Coalition forces dropped leaflets and issued radio broadcasts, asking citizens to stay in their homes and help identify the men who killed the Americans. The city was under siege with an estimated 3,600 insurgents inside, armed with small arms, RPGs, mortars, and anti-aircraft guns.
On the night of April 4, special operations teams began raiding the houses of suspected enemy leaders Marines from 1st Battalion, 5th Marines (1/5), 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines (2/1), the regiment's supporting tank company, an assault amphibian company, and an artillery battery began the assault on April 5, approaching from the outskirts of Fallujah in a pincers movement, hoping to catch the insurgents inside. What came next would be an intense urban combat campaign over the next five days that American forces hadn't seen since the Battle of Hue in the Vietnam War.
The Marines didn't really know how many enemy fighters they were up against because the deadline to fight back from Washington didn't give them time to prepare an adequate intelligence assessment. All they knew was they could be fighting anywhere from 500 to 6,000 enemy fighters. When the shooting started, the Marines faced stiff resistance and a surprisingly capable enemy. They could swarm positions, fight in coordinated teams, and effectively maneuver throughout the city. Their only trump card over the insurgency was the air and artillery fire support.
The fighting was house-to-house, as U.S. troops called in air strikes from AC-130 gunships' howitzer and gatling guns, along with F-16 Fighting Falcons and Cobra helicopter gunships.. Within three days, the Americans controlled a quarter of the city, but the resistance wasn't crumbling – they knew time was on their side if they could hold out. They began a disinformation campaign, claiming the Americans were effectively destroying much of the city and haphazardly killing civilians.
Meanwhile, as the fighting raged on, other cities in Iraq began to rise up. In Baghdad, followers of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr began reprisal attacks against Coalition forces. This militia would soon be known as the Mahdi Army and would be the main anti-Coalition militia in Iraq until it was disbanded in 2008. In Ramadi, another city in the Sunni Triangle, Sunni fighters would increase their resistance to American control. Other cities like Mosul and Najaf also saw an uptick in violence. The Iraqi Governing Council eventually had enough of the widespread violence and demanded the Marines call a ceasefire in Fallujah on April 9, 2004.
Humanitarian aid poured into the city over the next three weeks as the Marines continued their sporadic fighting with Fallujah's insurgents. Iraq estimated 600 civilians died in the month-long battle, while the United States lost 39 killed and 37 wounded. The provisional Iraqi government forced the Marines to leave the city and hand responsibility off to the Iraqi Fallujah Brigade, a newly created force of Sunni Iraqis. The Marines were skeptical about the reliability of such a force but withdrew anyway.
The First Battle of Fallujah was a loss for the Americans, but not because of the Marines' fighting ability. They were forced to engage a target without adequate intelligence or planning. They were also restricted in the number and power of reinforcements available to them. Finally, the American political leadership did not have the will to see the battle through to the end in the face of insurgent misinformation.
This platform has allowed me to reconnect with those who I've had the pleasure of
serving and stay in communication with them.
SMSgt Kevin Richardson US Air Force (Ret)
Served 1982-2011
The Siege of Bastogne was one of the most crucial fights of World War II, and it came amid the largest battle the U.S. Army has ever fought – the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans caught the Americans by surprise on Dec. 16, 1944, mustering more than 400,000 men, 550 tanks, and hundreds of other vehicles for one last offensive. The goal was to push the Allies back toward the sea and recapture the critical port of Antwerp.
German forces overwhelmed American defenses as they poured through the Ardennes Forest, forcing the retreat of tens of thousands of shocked American soldiers. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower knew his supply lines were already thin, a blizzard negated Allied air superiority and the Ardennes area was full of green and exhausted troops – some who had been fighting since D-Day. Eisenhower declared that holding the Belgia
n city of Bastogne would be the single most important mission of the battle and sent the 101st Airborne Division to mount its defenses.
Among those paratroopers sent to Bastogne was a young Pvt. Vince Speranza. Speranza joined the Army at age 18, hoping to become a simple line infantryman. But when he saw his first demonstration of a new kind of warfare, airborne paratroopers, he became enamored and signed up to join their ranks. He became a machine gunner and a replacement troop attached to Company H, 3rd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, and arrived in Europe in time to defend Bastogne.
Speranza survived the war and buried his memories of it. He allowed them to come back up when he taught kids about World War II as a history teacher, his decades-long postwar career. He eventually decided to return to Bastogne in 2009 at 84 years old. When he got there, he discovered he was a kind of historical celebrity - but not for anything he did with his machine gun.
Like other members of the 101st Airborne, Speranza spent the first eight days of the siege getting pounded by German artillery along the front line. On the second day, his best friend Joe Willis was hit by shrapnel from the enemy barrages and was evacuated to a casualty collection point housed in a church inside the city. Speranza went to visit his friend the first time he got the chance.
When he finally found Willis, his buddy asked him to get him a drink, and he didn't mean water. Speranza tried to explain to his wounded comrade that much of the city was in ruins; they were surrounded, and supplies couldn't reach them. Willis implored Speranza to take a look anyway. As he walked out of the church, he located a nearby tavern – or what remained of a tavern. As luck would have it, he walked in, and one of the taps worked.
Having nothing else to carry the beer in, Speranza used his helmet, filling it with beer to take to his friend. He made two full trips before a major caught him. Angry, the officer warned Speranza the beer might kill his friend or anyone else who takes a drink. He threatened to shoot Speranza if the soldier didn't stop bringing beer to the patients.
Around 65 years after the incident, Vince Speranza finally returned to Bastogne. He visited the military cemetery nearby and saw his old foxhole, which was still there. He also learned that the legend of the paratrooper who made a beer run for his wounded comrade is still being told, and a Belgian beer company even immortalized him. Bastogne's Airborne Beer is still served in a ceramic helmet, even to this day.
"Always Faithful, Always Forward"
The year was 1942, and a new type of unit was born in the US Marine Corps. Edson's 1st Raider Battalion was designated, and several days later, Carlson's 2d Raider Battalion was named. Later in the year, Liversedge's 3rd Raider Battalion and Roosevelt's 4th Raider Battalion were created. One hundred seventy-five members of Marines TWS are part of the United States Marine Raiders Association as members of one or more of the four Marine Raider Battalions during their respective periods of existence between 16 Feb 1942 and 31 Jan 1944 based on the Master U.S. Marine Raider Roster which contains about 7,710 Marine and 368 Navy personnel. As of 2023, a USMC battalion strength was about 900. Also, 127 current MTWS members had been assigned to the 1st Marine Raider Bn. A special TWS forum dedicated entirely to the late Raymond 
Louis Merrell (Sgt. USMC) titled "Raider Ray's Remembrances" includes eleven full pages of his threads about the Raiders written over an eighteen-month period 2017-18. Seventeen women have attempted Marine Raider training. The Association additionally summarizes these units' early days in a comprehensive manner, "Beginning in the mid-1930s the Marine Corps began experimenting with amphibious landings… In June 1941, he [General Holland M. Smith] personally picked Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. " ed Mike" Edson to command a battalion in the First Marine Division and designated it to serve permanently with the Navy's APD [i.e., high-speed transport, "AP" = transport, "D" = destroyer] squadron. Smith began to refer to Edson's outfit as the "light battalion" or the "APD battalion." When the 5th Marines and the other elements of the 1st Marine Division moved down to New River that fall, the 1st Battalion remained behind in Quantico with Force headquarters… He [Edson] believed that the APD battalion would focus primarily on reconnaissance, raids, and other special operations. In his mind, it was a waterborne version of the parachutists.
Similarly, the battalion would rely on speed and mobility, not firepower, as its tactical mainstay… At the beginning of 1942, with the United States now at war and recruits pouring into the Corps, Smith wrote the Major General Commandant and asked him to redesignate the battalion. On 7 January, Edson received word that he headed the 1st Separate Battalion.
The Raider battalions soon received priority in the Marine Corps on men and equipment. Edson and [Colonel Evans F.] Carlson combed their respective divisions' ranks and siphoned off many of the best men pouring forth from the recruit depots. They had no difficulty attracting volunteers with the promise that they would be the first to fight the Japanese. On 16 Feb 1942, predating the creation of the U.S. Army Rangers by four months, Edson received word that the 1st Separate Battalion had been officially designated the 1st Raider Battalion." In 2006, almost 65 years later, under the direction of the late SECDEF Donald Rumsfeld, the United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command activated at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Marines from the 1st and 2nd Force Reconnaissance Companies folded into the command. In 2015, the command rejoined its Second World War roots and became the present-day Marine Raiders comprised today of 1st and 2nd Marine Raider Bn.
Interestingly, the artificial intelligence version of the unit's formation reads, "The battalion was formed in response to a request from Admiral Chester Nimitz, the new commander of the Pacific Fleet, for 'commando units' to raid Japanese-held islands… The battalion was based in part on British Commandos and Chinese communist guerrillas…" General Thomas Holcomb (1879-1965) was famously reluctant to create the Raiders. He believed any "… standard Marine infantry battalion could execute any mission associated with British Commandos or Chinese guerrillas." Edson was awarded the Medal of Honor for his front-line leadership in a battle during which his Raiders suffered more than 250 killed and wounded. Bigger, bloodier battles awaited, but Edson's Ridge and the Raiders hold a special place among leathernecks of all generations, according to Beth Crumley, a U.S. Marine Corps History Division historian. "Anybody who has taken an interest in the history of the corps, they're going to know the story about Edson, and they're going to know about the Raiders and the Battle of Edson's Ridge," she said. They were the only ground units to participate in every island assault in the Solomon Islands. Raiders, as individuals or units, were in virtually every island-hopping event in the Pacific War and made the first landing in Japan after its announced surrender.
The 1st Marine Raider Battalion and its three sister battalions became famous for their fighting prowess in World War II. The battalion's inception, growth, and eventual end also revealed a lot about the development of amphibious operations during the war, as well as the challenges the Corps faced as it expanded from 19,000 men to nearly half a million. "Eight months after Pearl Harbor to the day, the Marines landed in combat. To secure Guadalcanal, the Raiders were assigned to take the neighboring island of Tulagi, where they would be up against the best of the Japanese combat forces, the Rikusentai or Japanese "Special Naval Landing Forces." Coming in on Higgins Boats in the morning hours of 7 Aug 1942, the Raiders would clash for three days in vicious fighting, encountering hitherto unknown Japanese cave bunkers plus their enemies' sniper actions, night-fighting, and willingness to fight to the death. On 14 Sep 1942, the first light at Guadalcanal revealed over a thousand Japanese dead on the ridge. Outnumbered five to one for two nights, the Raiders held on against Japanese shelling by sea and Imperial troops, and the battle became legendary in Marine Corps history." After two years of action, the four Raider battalions were disbanded. The Marine Raider Regiment (MRR), formerly known as the Marine Special Operations Regiment (MSOR), is a special operations force of the U.S. Marine Corps that is part of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC). The 1st Marine Raider Battalion was reactivated on 26 Oct 2006 and was headquartered at Camp Pendleton, CA, until moving to Camp Lejeune, NC, between 2019-2022.
"The Battalions' organization was finalized in 2006 and is one of three battalions of the Marine Raider Regiment. The 1st and 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalions and the Marine Special Operations Advisor Group (MSOAG, the predecessor of the 3rd Marine Special Operations Battalion) were created. Most of the combat personnel assigned to the battalion were drawn from the Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance. The battalion consists of four companies, each company consisting of 4 fourteen-man Marine Special Operations Teams (MSOT). The Marine Corps Special Operations proof of concept consisted of Det One deploying to Iraq with Navy SEALs from Naval Special Warfare Group 1 in 2004. The initial force structure for the Marine Special Operations Battalions were the 1st and 2nd Force Reconnaissance Companies, which then deployed elements to Afghanistan in 2007. In September 2009, the 1st Raider Battalion returned to Afghanistan in command of a joint special operations task force in the northwest of the country."
Following General Petraeus's take over of command in Afghanistan in 2010, in support of the ALP/VSO program (Afghan Local Police/Village Stability Operations), SOF in Afghanistan was task-organized into battalion-level SOTF (Special Operations Task Forces), each with a geographic area of responsibility; for MARSOC in western Afghanistan and Helmand Province. In March 2012, Marine Raiders suffered several casualties to Green on Blue attacks. The Marine Raiders were deployed to support the Global War on Terrorism in December 2013 alongside the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable). They conducted various missions, ranging from direct action to surveillance and other missions. In 2014, it was announced that the Marine Special Operations Regiment and its subordinate units would be renamed Marine Raiders. However, the renaming was not official until 19 June 2015 due to administrative delays. In February 2019, Marine Corps Times reported that since the formation of MARSOC 13 years before, it had conducted 300 operational deployments across 13 countries, awarded more than 300 valor awards, and that 43 Raiders, including two multipurpose canines, had been killed in training and combat operations.
"Even though the large-scale counter-terrorism campaigns of previous years have slowed down, Marine Raiders continue to deploy all across the globe, enhancing partnerships and setting the conditions to defeat adversaries if called upon. Marine Raiders are constantly deployed overseas. At any given time, a Marine Special Operations Team could be in Africa, Europe, South America, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific. As the United States military pivots toward Great Power Competition with geopolitical rivals like China in the Indo-Pacific, Marine Raiders find themselves in familiar territory."
"Since standing up in May of 2012, the Marine Raider Foundation has funded the Raider Legacy Preservation Program. This support includes:
• Funding to bring WWII Marine Raiders to their annual U.S. Marine Raider Association Reunion (all travel and reunion fees are covered)
• Funding for the construction of memorials honoring fallen Marine Raiders, including the Memorial Wall at MARSOC Headquarters, the Jonathan Gifford statue at Gifford Hall, the K9 Statue and Dog Handler Memorial Stone at the Corporal David M. Sonka Multipurpose Canine Facility, the memorial at 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, and memorial displays at Military Entrance Processing Stations
• Funding to bring WWII Marine Raiders to modern-day Raider ceremonies and commemorative events, linking together these two generations to help preserve the legacy that originated with WWII Marine Raiders and is carried on today by modern-day Raiders
• Funding for ceremonies that celebrate excellence within the Marine Raider community, including Marine Raider symposiums, Individual Training Course Graduation, awards ceremonies, and Celebration of Life ceremonies."
The 1st Marine Raider Bn insignia white stars featured on the night-sky blue (and other colored) background are in the arrangement of the Southern Cross constellation, under which the Guadalcanal fighting took place. The edged weapon depicted centrally on their SSI is a Marine Raider Stiletto (facsimile of the British Commando FS fighting knife) made by Camillus Cutlery during WWII, with only 15,000 manufactured. The U.S. military has traditionally avoided incorporating darker heraldry images into its patches and insignia. The main exception, however, is the World War II Marine Raiders and their use of the skull. Col Evans Carlson's 2nd Raider Battalion first used a skull with crossed cutlasses as its unofficial battalion logo and calling card. It was influential in the adaptation of the Marine Raider Regiment shoulder patch. The design is still used in various ways by Marines in the U.S. Special Operations Command (MARSOC) today. Since then, lesser-known units have also appropriated skulls for insignia in other units and service branches. Reportedly, nearly 87,000 marines were casualties during World War II (including almost 20,000 KIA), and 82 were awarded the Medal of Honor. Marine GWOT casualties from 1991-2016 were 1,257 KIA and 13,704 WIA, with two receiving the MOH.
Having gone to several military sites, most just want to sell you Stuff. TWS actually provides a service to those like myself who want to connect with the past. Our awards, accomplishments, and activities can be remembered here for others to enjoy or reminisce about. I had few friends while in the Navy, and I recognize that many made lifelong friends. I can certainly respect that and admire those who did just that. I must admit that I have already found one person I served with; thanks to TWS, I would have never found him. Now to make contact.
Perhaps the biggest service that TWS provides is the opportunity to relive memorable events in a safe way that leaves the pain behind. Some suffered more than others, for some suffering is gone, yet we hold onto those memories differently. TWS also provides a reality check that few, if any, provided how we can compare our service to others. Sometimes we don't have all our facts straight or recall events as accurately as others, and TWS provides different venues to compare.
I have found TWS to be a positive and uplifting force that allows service members to reconnect, recall memories, and divest thoughts that keep reoccurring through life into a meaningful force for good.
Thanks, TWS!
This was Salvatore Giunta's second deployment to Afghanistan. During his first tour in the country in 2005, he was shot in the leg and lost four of his fellow soldiers in an improvised explosive device attack. After a year back at home, he deployed once more. Then-Spc. Giunta was the rifle team leader for B Company, 1st Platoon, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team during Rock Avalanche. 
The two soldiers were third and fourth in line before the shooting started. Realizing the fire was coming from two directions, they did the only thing they knew could save them from being wiped out: they attacked. They began to return fire and make their way to the soldiers in front of them, suppressing the ambush using grenades. When they reached Spc. Frank Eckrode, the second man in line, they found him wounded. He had been shot four times and was trying to unjam his SAW. Then Giunta realized their point man (and Giunta's best friend), Sgt. Josh Brennan was missing. 
On April 4, 2004, the U.S. launched a massive operation to capture or kill those responsible for murdering Blackwater contractors and the five American troops while pacifying the city. An estimated 10,000 troops, including U.S. Army soldiers from the 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne, 10th Mountain Division, 1st Infantry Division, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, 5th Special Forces Group, and Delta Force operators had tried to pacify Fallujah, but it would be the Marine Corps who entered the city for what was officially known as Operation Vigilant Resolve. 
U.S. forces surrounded Fallujah with some 2,000 Marines on April 2, 2004. By the morning of April 5, 2004, the city was cut off from the rest of the country, with all roads blocked. A third of the city had already fled, but Coalition forces dropped leaflets and issued radio broadcasts, asking citizens to stay in their homes and help identify the men who killed the Americans. The city was under siege with an estimated 3,600 insurgents inside, armed with small arms, RPGs, mortars, and anti-aircraft guns. 
The fighting was house-to-house, as U.S. troops called in air strikes from AC-130 gunships' howitzer and gatling guns, along with F-16 Fighting Falcons and Cobra helicopter gunships.. Within three days, the Americans controlled a quarter of the city, but the resistance wasn't crumbling – they knew time was on their side if they could hold out. They began a disinformation campaign, claiming the Americans were effectively destroying much of the city and haphazardly killing civilians. 
n city of Bastogne would be the single most important mission of the battle and sent the 101st Airborne Division to mount its defenses.
When he finally found Willis, his buddy asked him to get him a drink, and he didn't mean water. Speranza tried to explain to his wounded comrade that much of the city was in ruins; they were surrounded, and supplies couldn't reach them. Willis implored Speranza to take a look anyway. As he walked out of the church, he located a nearby tavern – or what remained of a tavern. As luck would have it, he walked in, and one of the taps worked.
Louis Merrell (Sgt. USMC) titled "Raider Ray's Remembrances" includes eleven full pages of his threads about the Raiders written over an eighteen-month period 2017-18. Seventeen women have attempted Marine Raider training. The Association additionally summarizes these units' early days in a comprehensive manner, "Beginning in the mid-1930s the Marine Corps began experimenting with amphibious landings… In June 1941, he [General Holland M. Smith] personally picked Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. " ed Mike" Edson to command a battalion in the First Marine Division and designated it to serve permanently with the Navy's APD [i.e., high-speed transport, "AP" = transport, "D" = destroyer] squadron. Smith began to refer to Edson's outfit as the "light battalion" or the "APD battalion." When the 5th Marines and the other elements of the 1st Marine Division moved down to New River that fall, the 1st Battalion remained behind in Quantico with Force headquarters… He [Edson] believed that the APD battalion would focus primarily on reconnaissance, raids, and other special operations. In his mind, it was a waterborne version of the parachutists.
The 1st Marine Raider Battalion and its three sister battalions became famous for their fighting prowess in World War II. The battalion's inception, growth, and eventual end also revealed a lot about the development of amphibious operations during the war, as well as the challenges the Corps faced as it expanded from 19,000 men to nearly half a million. "Eight months after Pearl Harbor to the day, the Marines landed in combat. To secure Guadalcanal, the Raiders were assigned to take the neighboring island of Tulagi, where they would be up against the best of the Japanese combat forces, the Rikusentai or Japanese "Special Naval Landing Forces." Coming in on Higgins Boats in the morning hours of 7 Aug 1942, the Raiders would clash for three days in vicious fighting, encountering hitherto unknown Japanese cave bunkers plus their enemies' sniper actions, night-fighting, and willingness to fight to the death. On 14 Sep 1942, the first light at Guadalcanal revealed over a thousand Japanese dead on the ridge. Outnumbered five to one for two nights, the Raiders held on against Japanese shelling by sea and Imperial troops, and the battle became legendary in Marine Corps history." After two years of action, the four Raider battalions were disbanded. The Marine Raider Regiment (MRR), formerly known as the Marine Special Operations Regiment (MSOR), is a special operations force of the U.S. Marine Corps that is part of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC). The 1st Marine Raider Battalion was reactivated on 26 Oct 2006 and was headquartered at Camp Pendleton, CA, until moving to Camp Lejeune, NC, between 2019-2022.
Following General Petraeus's take over of command in Afghanistan in 2010, in support of the ALP/VSO program (Afghan Local Police/Village Stability Operations), SOF in Afghanistan was task-organized into battalion-level SOTF (Special Operations Task Forces), each with a geographic area of responsibility; for MARSOC in western Afghanistan and Helmand Province. In March 2012, Marine Raiders suffered several casualties to Green on Blue attacks. The Marine Raiders were deployed to support the Global War on Terrorism in December 2013 alongside the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable). They conducted various missions, ranging from direct action to surveillance and other missions. In 2014, it was announced that the Marine Special Operations Regiment and its subordinate units would be renamed Marine Raiders. However, the renaming was not official until 19 June 2015 due to administrative delays. In February 2019, Marine Corps Times reported that since the formation of MARSOC 13 years before, it had conducted 300 operational deployments across 13 countries, awarded more than 300 valor awards, and that 43 Raiders, including two multipurpose canines, had been killed in training and combat operations.
The 1st Marine Raider Bn insignia white stars featured on the night-sky blue (and other colored) background are in the arrangement of the Southern Cross constellation, under which the Guadalcanal fighting took place. The edged weapon depicted centrally on their SSI is a Marine Raider Stiletto (facsimile of the British Commando FS fighting knife) made by Camillus Cutlery during WWII, with only 15,000 manufactured. The U.S. military has traditionally avoided incorporating darker heraldry images into its patches and insignia. The main exception, however, is the World War II Marine Raiders and their use of the skull. Col Evans Carlson's 2nd Raider Battalion first used a skull with crossed cutlasses as its unofficial battalion logo and calling card. It was influential in the adaptation of the Marine Raider Regiment shoulder patch. The design is still used in various ways by Marines in the U.S. Special Operations Command (MARSOC) today. Since then, lesser-known units have also appropriated skulls for insignia in other units and service branches. Reportedly, nearly 87,000 marines were casualties during World War II (including almost 20,000 KIA), and 82 were awarded the Medal of Honor. Marine GWOT casualties from 1991-2016 were 1,257 KIA and 13,704 WIA, with two receiving the MOH.