DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MARINE RECON & MARINE RAIDERS | Nick Koumalatsos

What's wrong with everyone? This is the moment everyone has been waiting for. It's the most requested video since I started on YouTube. This is everything everyone wanted to know. What is the

difference

between Marine Recon and Marine Raiders very fast? Let's talk about my story before we do I need you to put your keyboards in a safe case, let them hang and put that stuff away. This is real, men speak for real. I know everyone has an opinion about my hair and my beard and how I live my life, but I really did it. Don't ask for it, uh, you asked me for this, so here we go, real quick.

My story. I joined the Marine Corps in 2000. I got hurt in boot camp. I spent five and a half months there. I ended up graduating. Graduated with honors from the company. In fact, I signed up to be an infantryman, thank God that didn't work out because I hurt my wrist I lost my boat space I went and saw a teacher the teacher said recruit I'm going to give you the best job in the

marine

s I said I sir 4212 basic military journalism you have to be Yo, joker, you think you're Mickey's friend, you think you're some kind of writer, sir, I wrote for my high school newspaper, sir, hey, pride, you're not a writer, You're a killer, thank you sir, can I have another sir and uh? he gave me management uh if you want to hear about that story go to the podcast my website I'll link it below fast forward show my unit I realized it didn't fit that month and I spent the next two years um, trying to be something else I didn't know what I wanted to get lucky and I got an individual raise something basically like a corporal I just went to Turkey and was part of Operation Northern Watch became Operation Enduring Freedom came back I ended up being a sergeant I was looking down the barrel of a re-enlistment and i had no idea what i wanted to do i met a guy named sergeant major mcavoy any retired

marine

knows who he is and he said don't be a can i say that?

Don't be a and go recognize, of course, that's starring big oh, don't be a comma, go recognize, so I did. I took a screening with a lot of you, you know, I talked about it and Dan New took my screening in December of 2003 and the rest is history. I went to the second fourth

recon

naissance I went from there to the third

recon

naissance battalion I loved that place stopping okinawa I returned to the second force at that time it had become the second marine special operations battalion I went to the selection evaluation selection I was selected and kept my place on the team and then My last half of my career was spent with Marine Special Operations Command as a Marine Raider in case you're wondering why this guy is talking about reconnaissance and

raiders

.

I was both. I have the mls about 321 and o372. It was a great moment. moments of my life, the worst moments of my life, so let's talk about the history of

raiders

and let's talk about the history of reconnaissance, it's very intertwined and this is why it gets a little confusing in World War II In 1942, the Marine Corps said oh. We need this as a special small team special unit to be able to conduct amphibious raids and reconnaissance. They faced battalions of raiders. It was the first special operations unit that the army had as its headquarters.

Marine Corps Base San Diego, California. January 15, 1942. Subject volunteers for a special battalion the commanding general has issued a call for volunteers to be formed for a special battalion immediately now this battalion will be trained for a particular combat duty abroad; those men who can pass the severe requirements of this unit will be assured of immediate active duty the job involves hand-to-hand combat with the enemy and only those men who are prepared to kill or be killed should apply those who are accepted will be highly trained I will have every chance to survive but you have to understand that the job is above and beyond the call of duty they did an amazing job they did a great job there are some WWII marine raiders still alive.

I have met some of them. It's an amazing experience to be able to interact with the raiders from World War II for now and to see these kinds of things come together after World War II, after these raiders did their job, the Marine Corps said there's no no special in the special, we are all special, so we are going to disband the raider battalions so he did it and then korea starts the marine corps, oh, remember those raiders, we need another unit like that, they created a reconnaissance company, they It was called an amphibious reconnaissance company to carry out landings in North Korea and that gave rise to the reconnaissance community of that type.

It changed and shaped itself over the years from Korea to Vietnam, after Vietnam, it had a really solid foundation, they raised a forced reconnaissance unit and had a battalion level reconnaissance division, fast forward, 1987, United States founded the special operations command Socom, they brought in all the different organizations. from the military they had their special army group, the green berets, the navy and then even the air force, they went to the marine corps and said, hey, we want to invite you to this club and the comments were like, uh, no thanks. We are all special, all my marines are special ops and we don't want to play in your club, we are going to create our own club, that is what they did and that is what gave rise to the marine expeditionary units that we will get to very soon. then the socom was established and forced reconnaissance units raided with the socom.

We worked with the socom here and there, but technically we weren't part of the socom. Thanks to Donald Rumsfeld, he requested that the Marine Corps test-bed a unit called an adjunct. one in 2003 they took the best and best of the marine corps and created a special operations unit called deputy one led by colonel coats he is an amazing marine and the best of the best forced reconnaissance units and support mosses became part of that unit and they were very successful, they did a very good job and because that unit was successful it gave rise to the marine special operations command, now at this time they created the marine special operations command known as marsoc, now, How are they going to get the marines to stand up?

The best the marine corps has to offer is a group of forced reconnaissance marines and other specialized mosses, so what they did was gut the reconnaissance community, we took first force reconnaissance and second force reconnaissance and we made them special first and second marines. operations battalion under marsoc there was also a unit that was being raised called foreign military training unit and that unit became the third marine special operations now all these units are known as first second and third marine raider battalion so as Come on, it's filling up. circle now throughout that transition we created an assessment selection process very similar to the other socom selection processes and an individual training course so you see that it started with the raiders, went through the reconnaissance and went back to the raiders, okay, so what is recognition?

This is a unit that has special operations capabilities to support the marine corps and even more so to support the magpaf magpaf is the marine air ground task group, so back in the 80s, when they said no, we are not going to be a part of the socom and stood up to the marine expeditionary units. And that really was America's reaction force around the world, so there was a special missions unit that was capable of doing a lot of different things that could be anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours and that, and today these marines are still doing this.

They are an American action arm that can be anywhere like that Be a strike force Be a search and rescue force to carry out humanitarian assistance By definition their role is that of reconnaissance forces They are a valuable asset to the group Air-Ground Marine Task Force When the MET commander faces uncertainty in battlefield reconnaissance provides timely intelligence to battlespace command and control, allowing the MAGTF to act and react to changes on the battlefield while they are not part of the socom, correct, they are performing a special operations mission, they are trained and equipped to operate in small teams they are trained to jump they are trying to dive they are trying to drive they are trained to participate to perform any mission they are required to perform or perform reconnaissance surveillance to get that information Let's go back to the commander so he can run his infantry battalions or the entire magtap to carry out a raid or force or whatever mission is required at that time.

If you want to know what they do here, it's time to start the step and I'm the team leader. With the force reconnaissance platoon arriving in seaport for the 31st, new, I entered the marine corps as an infantry and reconnaissance was something that seemed more elitist and focused on leading smaller units, working with smaller teams , reconnaissance battalions develop highly specialized skill sets. insertion and extraction capabilities direct action and execution of reconnaissance and surveillance operations at the platoon level we provide direct action bdss and specialized free fall capabilities as well as theater support biological training close tactics the first advice I would give is to do your best You can to not fail yourself or the people around you, the people who depend on you and understand that there is not much recognition in this job other than the recognition of a job well done, it will be very hard work, there will be failures involved. , you have the talent you have. ability so you can be a force recon marine but it only takes drive to become a recon marine it was an interesting concept and now that I'm older and I've done a lot of different things and I've both been in recon and marshall was eh I try, I think of recon marines as spartans training to become spartans, they really are like the recon marines of my time are absolutely savage, they are the cowboys of the marine corps, the big marine corps hates them to death because they're just they don't fit the perfect marine, don't get me wrong, they're very much a marine and their morals and the way they fight, the way they think the way they train is more marine than anyone else they have known. ever seen but they just don't fit the perfect version of what you see in the commercials they have longer hair they are bigger they are tattooed they curse they fight they are absolutely wild but you know what these guys do, whatever it takes to fulfill the mission and just like when the Spartans were training to be Spartans, they would almost lie, cheat, steal, kill to get the job done, so real quick, follow me here, I'm going to break these. things are ready for you so you have recognition here okay so the way this works is you have the marine corps so I'm just going to say marine corps r cmc marine corps and then you have you know , that you have divisions. and then you have the magpaf which is on the ship, so each division you have, each division has a force reconnaissance company and a reconnaissance battalion underneath, okay, now these units are part of the meow, which is the marine exposure unit that we travel on navy ships, okay, and in the meow you have a magtf marine air ground task force that is made up of a group of different units to include a reconnaissance platoon, you will usually have a battalion reconnaissance platoon that performs reconnaissance surveillance over your green side. patrolling long range reconnaissance things and then you have a force reconnaissance if I can spell that will do your direct action your raids and so on and also 25 miles apart um behind the enemy line your force reconnaissance units will do your long range reconnaissance behind from enemy lines if it is necessary for these units to carry out these operations in support of the division in support of the magtf in general in support of the marine corps that is doing it for the United States, they are the action arm of the United States, as well What if you like this and want to be part of this. unit, the marine corps is giving you the opportunity to do this early on, so you can go into reconnaissance or you can enlist in the marine corps to have a reconnaissance contract to do this, not that you don't need a lot.

You need a top notch pft that is a 235. Now I will say if you have a 235 you won't make it. You will have your chance at least to have a 235, but once you go, if you don't have it, I would say a 275 to 285 or more, you won't stay there, I promise, so first class pft a score of 105 gt this it is not your aspab score this is agt score this is a score below your main aspab is your overall technical score so Make sure you pay attention that you need a water survival rating. You must be eligible for a secret clearance at a minimum.

If you are already a sailor, you cannot have any entries on page 11 in the last 12 months. If you're trying not to move on recon then that's not it, there's not a lot of requirements to be able to enlist and go to recon now, I will say the dropout rate is probably well over 50 so the way it's going to work is if you enlist in go recon you'll enlist you'll go to boot camp hopefully you'll be a squad leader a guide and an honors graduate and then from there you'll go do a condensed version of sy and then you'll go you'll go mark marines waiting reconnaissance training that's basically the new rip what I did was I went to a second force reconnaissance company and carried out a three month reconnaissance indoctrination platoon.

I would never want to do that, I probably wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, it was horrible, it was much worse than ars, which is an amphibious school I went to, they have since combined ars and brc and now We are all at Camp Pendleton in the basic reconnaissance course, so you go and show up to mark that you pass that and then you are in brc, you make it through brc, now you are a reconnaissance sailor, congratulations, you have made it and you are going to live. a life full of adventure and excitement, be humble, enjoy it, it is a great brotherhood.

I will say this before continuing that if I had stayed in reconnaissance units I probably would not have left the Marine Corps. I'll leave you with that. They know I don't want all of this taken away from me. I want you to listen to the advice of these recon marines and what they had to tell you. What has driven me through all that time in your constant community is a mentality that you know, just having that tough mentality is not going to cut it. I'm just going to move on, you can't take this job like it's okay, I'm just going to be tough enough to get through it, the way I see it, when you get to the recognition community, you're not earning a top, you're just earning the title so yes you are a reconnaissance marine and a title however it is more of a lifestyle and that's the way I think about it because it doesn't come every day you have to earn it every day.

Just one day, my advice again is to have that mentality, that toughness mentality, you know, in general, stay humble, probably the most important thing is just don't give up, it's all about the heart, find where your limits are, push them, Push your limits every day, master the basics. you know throughout training camp and things you've heard things about slower, softer, faster, well, if you live by that, then you're going to be good at everything you do, mastery of the basics, we've all heard the saying, work smarter, not harder, but think. About this, if you work hard and smart, you probably have twice the chance of destroying a park.

Good luck to everyone, train hard, play hard, be a godfather, but don't abandon my advice to become a good reconnaissance sailor. Recon Marine in general is just learning to laugh at misery, developing a sick sense of humor, and never saying the words. I quit even when you want, good luck Marine Raiders, probably one of the most exciting moments of my life, like I said, the story of the second force. the first force became the second and first marine raider marine special operations battalion they are now called marine raider battalions we are now officially marine raiders we have our own device we have our own mos it was amazing to be on the ground floor of that and see it come to fruition and it is even more amazing to see the men continue the tradition and deploy around the world for you, United States, what is a marine raider?

I hate, I absolutely hate to say that people don't really know, so they go well, it's kind of like the navy. stamps but it's the marine version and the reason we say that or the reason people say that is because let's go back to the white board so remember in 1987 they raised socom okay so you have socom and below from socom it was all different. branches, there is a special operations branch that fell under them, okay, so you have, they have, you have the seals, naval special warfare that you are used to stocking, which are the green berets, you have sf and then you have I have afsock, which it's the cct and the pajamas that fall under them so we're just going to say af okay and then now you have marsoc oh come on okay now to fully understand this operationally correctly these units fall under socom this it's their command unlike recon these units fall under vision or mu ok so they support this these marsoc units are raiders so you have seals you have a green beret and now you have raiders so yeah these These are marines, these are marines and they fall under the marine corps as in an organization, but operationally this command responds to socom operationally now it's a little complicated because you know it's like having two stepfathers, I guess, or two dads or two, you know it's like having a divorce relationship, it's like it's really awkward, you know you have to answer this wrong here, but then this dad wants you to do something else, but the money comes from here and then some money comes from here and it's a complicated relationship, but understand that the marine raiders. they fall under socom they respond to socom and they respond to socom missions what missions are those direct actions special reconnaissance environmental preparation security force assistance counterterrorism the most important is foreign internal defense and encounter with the insurgency and these are in reality only core special operations missions now my My personal opinion is that the environment in which we fight today and the environment in which we fight globally is really a special operations mission.

Nothing frustrates me more than seeing a company of 19-year-olds put on the front lines, not that they don't do it. We don't do an incredible job, but whether as cannon fodder or simply as IED magnets, we are no longer fighting a military force, we are fighting insurgency, it is extremely complicated and it takes an unconventional operation to fight that kind of fight and I feel like these are the marines and these are the units that are doing it and these are the units that are doing it today while you're at the mall having your peppermint latte, it's the reconnaissance marines and the marine raiders the who are promoting the fight against terrorism just to clarify.

Above you have Marshak below a lot of people have heard the term critical skills operator which is the mos or 372 that's what a marine raider is I hope that makes sense so you're a critical marine skills operator marine raider , wait. that makes sense, so you want to become a marine raider if you're not in the military, you've heard it before, it starts right here, no, it starts here, yellow footprints, okay, there's no shortcut to Marstock, you're not going to do it. join up and be a marine raider, that's not going to happen, you have to spend your time in the marine corps and pay the man, the man is the big green dick, you have to get in there, get something for at least three years, about three years. once you've earned your marine degree and served your time and are ready to take it a step further and go to the draft, here's what you'll need to have a gt score of 105 and a minimum pft of 235.

Again, yes you have a 235, you are thinking about taking the test, it won't happen, sorry bro, you need to increase that to at least 275 or 285 as well because if you go, you will just be disappointed. and you're not going to do it, it only gets harder from the start you'll have to pass the Marstock swim assessment again be eligible for a secret clearance be willing to move to mos 0372 and re-enlist for a period of time once you have all those requirements you will take an assessment, once you take the assessment you will go to the asp which is basically a pre-assessment and selection, once you go to the assessment selection and get selected what again the dropout rate is probably well above 50, I'll say 50, but I think it's more than 50, then you'll go on an individual training course, which is very long, you'll learn a lot of different things, that's where your basis for becoming a marine raider really It starts and you learn all the different tasks associated with the missions that I said before.

You want to know what a mugger does. Look at this. You are not only serving the American people, but also your team. Your team is your lifeline. It is the most important thing to you. There is nothing more important to you in a complicated situation than your teammates. There is no gratitude in this line of work. Don't come here expecting someone to say thank you very much for what you did. you're doing you'll get it from the civilians walking on the side of the road just being military here you do the mission you read and go out again no one will know what you're doing no one will know where you are no one knows what you're working on they won't know the context of your job, you'll be there with your team when you leave that country, come home, that's the caliber of people I work with.

They have been considered the highest caliber they have ever been through assessment selection, but ultimately their moral caliber and their ability to handle themselves like a normal person in their everyday life is the highest caliber of people you can be with. I have worked. With any of these guys I work with I would go anywhere and do anything. Shooting is always an advantage. The ability to precisely place where needed greatly improves team survivability, reduces collateral damage, and increases mission success. In addition to being in the top right range, the average person's reaction time is a quarter of a second, so when the target presents itself, you have a quarter of a second to react to a change and act accordingly. , so you start from the lowest level.

Ready, the objective is presented. a quarter of a second to aim at the target and pull the trigger and make sure it's accurate and in the center of a vehicle, get out of a vehicle, take cover, exchange fire from that aspect instead of staying in line and just shooting paper goals all day long what I'm working on. basic marksmanship skills that most of the guys here have done, we are at that level and we are looking for the next level of training and that is absolutely what they are capturing for us here we are shooting in civilian clothing where all we have is a gun hidden and we have to react or we could be in a full team since our training we are prepared to do anything that is required of us and anything that may be interesting to achieve our adversaries abroad are learning our customs, so we are having We have to change and adjust our training and do things differently so that every day is a learning experience.

You can never walk around and think you have it all. They know. All the men to my left and to my right. They have a sense of drive. They have a sense of pride there is something about them that you will never find anywhere else someone is thinking about Marshall what I would say is do it, it never hurts to try the only thing that will hurt is your pride, but just get up, try . Go away and do it again, don't take it all for me. You want to know what it's like to be a raider.

Listen to these guys. Fitness will likely be the most important component of your preparation for assessment selection. The first thing you should do. Do you need to search and identify the standards of what will be required of you? You need to develop and design a process and training regimen that will successfully prepare you for the rigors of assessment selection. The preparation of the marine radar is. All I need to say is that your way of thinking comes from within you and from yourself. There is no one here to help you with that process. Okay, there is no book on how to develop your mindset.

I'm sorry, but it's not going to happen. The best thing you can do for your way of thinking. Can you ask yourself why you want to do this and why you want to become a marine reader? Once you've identified that answer, every day you need to refine and address that answer and develop and redevelop that question for yourself. right, if you ever get stuck, ever get stuck, go back to that statement of why you want to do it, the continuous answer is that you are x, y and z, but it still takes you to the same end state that goes to the selection. and become a marine raider, then put your nose down, hold on and continue on your way.

One of my favorite pet peeves and one of the guys when I was in my leadership position had a mentality and what I think is different is the everyone has heard this the light switch being able to turn the light switch on and off.light okay, so we've been at war with Iraq and Afghanistan for how long, right, so those are very easy mentalities, let's go there, it's about the guys. we band together, we plan, we go and execute missions and it's pretty clear on the other side of that now that the war is ending and things are getting more political, the statements department is involved, you have the executive branch involved, um oga is involved, so Your words at this point have meaning, so what you were able to do and speak and the way you acted to get your way in a combat zone will get you completely kicked out of the country, especially if you are working under a mle. you're working under a uh get a station for the cia or anyone, let's say almost anyone at the embassy who doesn't like you um, we'll have you, uh, we'll have you, uh, non-grotted person and a quick plane flight home the term professional warrior, I think the green beret understood it, everyone adopted their own way of doing it, but it's absolutely true, you have to be able to understand what your mission is, what your way of thinking is. and how are you going to achieve that goal, so Afghanistan, yes, we all know, it's easy, okay, but when you get into the scope of, let's say, an embassy, ​​there are very, very sensitive relationships and if one, let's say, a foreign dignitary or diplomat does so. you don't even like what you're doing, you're not handling yourself correctly, it's the end of your career, you're going back home, your confidence has been lost and things like that, so your education about where you're going, the people you're what are you going you're dealing with and what your agenda is what you're trying to convey and the day you work for the United States, but that doesn't mean you have to do these smoke and mirrors type things, you can be friends with someone and they know they're doing the same thing as you, but you have the mentality that yes, we will be friends, we are working towards a common goal, but you have to be able to be that good guy, you have to be that intellectual guy that you have. to listen to what people say, you have to ask better questions, be able to be sociable, not everyone is good at it, okay, some people are, some people are big giant hammers and some people are scalpels, there is an element of finesse in But I would say right now I'm going to say that about 80% of our job is to maintain foreign relations so that we can keep this country together so that we're not, you know, fighting other wars that we don't need to fight or lose more brothers a progressive approach to fitness like what Nick is doing with umc prep um, you.

I'm having it early, I wish I had something like this as early as I did and learned how to live properly, how to eat properly and the most important thing in all of this, recovery, people don't take enough time to regenerate their body and develop it. the next and that's the only thing that's going to give you mental relief and that's the only thing that's going to get you into your 20s and keep you in the community and then you're going to be around the people you really want to be with if you don't do that, it's going to be a very, very fast and difficult exit from the unit, which is not good for anyone.

Listen to the press program, listen to what, if you're already in, yeah, and then, uh. The osmc prep program pay attention to rest and recovery, please, please, okay, the days of limping out of the gym, throwing up in the trash can, and walking out, those days are over, okay, we got smart These days, yeah, it didn't work. It went well for me, I suffered a lot of cash injuries and then I had to leave and it was not a very easy road for me, stay safe and I will see your brothers again, the Irish raiders far from home. 65 to 75 percent of the year, meaning schools, pre-deployment training, deployment itself.

I can put a lot of stress on the home front and challenge some of the strongest relationships out there to maintain stability and relationships will rely on you reaching out to your partner to reassure them. that you went through a part of your entire life, not just life at home and when you are at home make it count, don't waste the limited time you have with them. Hey guys, thanks for watching. I hope that clarified a few things if you're looking to join the challenge join the challenge be the challenge jump on the challenge whatever it is if you're going to do this go to www.raider it's a 12 week training program that Josh and I just launched and it will prepare you for a spock and a s check it out if you are not there yet visit www.usmcprep.com it will help you prepare for training camp and here is what you don't need you don't need that program but if you want to excel , if you want to graduate boot camp and then select to go to reconnaissance or later, then you need to be in that 275 to 285 range, if not 300, and in your CFT check out those links.

I'll link them below. Guys, you know the deal, never give up, never give up, always keep going, see you next time.