U. S. Marine Corps Special Operations in a Narco-Terrorism Environment

摘要

Today narco-terrorism is thriving in the Andean Ridge countries which provide the world with most of its cocaine and various other illicit drugs. A large proportion of those drugs enter the United States illegally and are poisoning our society in many alarming ways. This is a massive implication for the security of the United States. Our borders are seemingly porous and invite the highly adaptive narco-traffickers to invent new ways to invade. Thus far, U.S. government counter-narcotics efforts at home and abroad, have failed to stem the flow into this country. Additionally, most of the political anti- drug legislation on the part of the Andean countries, as well as our own, have gone unheeded. As the world's great power, the United States needs to be proactive in its efforts to stop the 'scourge' of narco-terrorism and keep illicit drugs from entering this country. The ideal method for accomplishing that mission is to assign it to a Marine Corps Special Operations Capable unit and allow them to directly interdict narco-terrorist activities in the source countries. The Marine Corps is the force of choice for this mission due to its rapid environmental adaptability and deployment status. However, the low intensity conflict nature of this type of operation will require a variety of additional specialized training for successful operations in this environment. What is required is a unit with Raider type training capable of operating for extended periods in a LIC. Raider training, with regard to the critical riverine aspects of the Andean Ridge, is not normally given to deploying units. Specifically, Raiders can be used as an augmentation/attachment to a MEU(SOC). An extant trained Raider force could also be used with the MEU(SOC) acting as an enabler for in-country access. If we do not eliminate illicit drugs from our society, we face a serious threat to our survival as a nation.