All seven Marines were members of the 2nd Raiders Special Operations Battalion at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
SOCOM and its four service components were among the least directly affected by recent budget cuts, although the across-the-board impact of sequestration was felt. That reflects the growing view of SOF as one of the most important military capabilities to combat unexpected hostile events anywhere in the world.
“The label ‘Raider’ will unify the three MARSOC battalions. Using the legacy of Marine Raiders and the label as an organization would create an umbrella in which all MOSs [Military Occupational Specialty] would fall. This unifying concept allows those who are ‘operators’ and those specialists who ‘support’ operations a common cohesive term as any other unit or MAGTF [Marine Air-Ground Task Force] would have.”
“To date, unlike the conventional forces, budget constraints have had marginal impacts on MARSOC’s equipment acquisitions, maintenance, and training. In FY 16, expectations are that the impacts will become significant if the spending caps established in the 2011 Budget Control Act for FY 16 are enforced (not adjusted or repealed). From a G-3 perspective, there has been no impact. We are successfully accomplishing all our assigned tasks effectively and efficiently,” Osterman said.
A Critical Skills Operator with 3rd Marine Special Operations Battalion (3D MSOB), U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, and his Multi-Purpose Canine, Lando, watch as Marines with 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion (2nd CEB), 2nd Marine Division, fire M-4 carbine rifles and M-9 service pistols at a range, Feb. 10, 2015. Marines with 3D MSOB participated in RAVEN 15-03, a 10-day realistic military training exercise to enhance the battalion’s readiness for worldwide support to global security. Marines with 2nd CEB played the role of a partner-nation force during the exercise. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. Josh Higgins
Nonetheless, all of the service chiefs, DOD civilian leadership, and SOCOM’s commander, Army Gen. Joseph L. Votel, in testimony before the House and Senate Armed Services Committees’ DOD budget hearings in March, voiced strong concerns about tight budgets – and especially a return of sequestration – causing both SOF and regular forces to fall below critical capability levels.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict Michael D. Lumpkin told lawmakers it is vital to the nation’s security to maintain SOF that are globally postured to support the COCOMs in handling the rapidly changing threats the United States and its allies face. And sequestration, if it returns to the budget process in FY 16, poses a major threat to that effort.
“From ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] to pro-Russian rebel forces in Ukraine, the United States and our international partners face a diverse set of unconventional threats worldwide centered within the physical terrain, the human domain, information environment, and financial cyberspace,” he said.
“Additionally, our response efforts often require security force assistance missions in non-permissive and politically sensitive areas where the host nation demands a discreet U.S. footprint.