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  • Published: 3 June 2014
  • ISBN: 9781101630198
  • Imprint: PEN US eBook Adult
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352
Categories:

Always Faithful, Always Forward

The Forging of a Special Operations Marine





Established in 1986, the U.S. Special Operations Command was set up to bring the special operational disciplines of all branches of the military under a single, unified command to act on missions involving unconventional warfare, special reconnaissance, foreign internal defense, and direct action…

The Marine Special Operations Command (“MARSOC”) is the newest component of the military’s shift toward a fully integrated Special Operations Command structure. At first, the Marines were strongly against any Marines serving under anyone other than another Marine.

Then 9/11 happened.

In the years following, Marine forces found themselves growing more agreeable to inter-branch operational command, finally forming the Marine Special Operations Command in 2006. Always Faithful, Always Forward follows the journey of a class of Marine candidates from their recruitment, through assessment and selection, to their qualification as Marines Special Operators.

The assessment, selection, and training regimes are a combination of psychological testing and intense military training as well as being a physical and professional rite of passage. MARSOC Marines must be efficient, agile, independent, and prepared to live hard in the field. They are warriors trained in the full range of military skills, as well as teachers who can train locals to defend their communities and lead them in battle. But above all, they are Marines. Their ability to leverage their numbers by embedding with the locals and to live in remote locations has, in their short history, made them a valuable force and one with great utility in remote reaches of the world.

Retired Navy Captain Dick Couch has been given unprecedented access to this new command and to the individual Marines of this exceptional special-operations unit, allowing him to chronicle the history and development of the Marine Special Operations Command and how they find, recruit, and train their special operators.

INCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHS

  • Published: 3 June 2014
  • ISBN: 9781101630198
  • Imprint: PEN US eBook Adult
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352
Categories:

About the author

Dick Couch

Dick Couch is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Acade-
my and served with the Navy UDT and SEAL
Teams. While a platoon commander with SEAL
Team One in 1970, he led one of the only successful
POW rescue operations of the Vietnam War. On
release from active duty in 1972, he joined the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency where he served as a Mari-
time Operations officer. Dick retired from the
Naval Reserve in 1997 as the senior reserve SEAL
officer with the rank of captain. He began his writ-
ing career in 1990 and has published four novels:
SEAL Team One, Pressure Point, Silent Descent, and
Rising Wind. The Warrior Elite was his first non-fic-
tion work, published in November of 2001 by
Crown Books. US Armed Forces Nuclear, Chemical,
Biological Survival Manual (Basic Books), edited by
Dick, will be publishing in Feb. 2003. In the sum-
mer of 2003, Dick and Cliff Hollenbeck, award win-
ning photo journalist, will publish To Be a Navy
SEAL (Motor Books International), a table-top, full-
color pictorial book that will feature Basic
UDT/SEAL Training with a 20,000 word essay by
Dick. Scheduled for release in the fall of 2003 is The
Mercenary Option, a novel to be published by Pock-
et Books.

Also by Dick Couch

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Praise for Always Faithful, Always Forward

"Dick Couch's gripping, compelling guide to Marine Corps Special Operations is a window into not only the training of these elite warriors, but also into American military engagement in the years and decades to come. Shoot, swim, sweat--and learn--with them."--Nathaniel Fick, author of One Bullet Away and former Captain, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion

"Always Faithful, Always Forward is a valuable resource, whether it's someone just interested in learning more about special operations, someone serving on active duty, or for any Marine who's considering applying to MARSOC. It's a thorough appraisal by someone who's seen and written about all the special operations components, as well as having served himself. I can't imagine anyone doing a better job of telling the Marine Special Operations story."--Larry Bond, author of Exit Plan

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