DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MARINE RECON & MARINE RAIDERS | Nick Koumalatsos

what's up everybody this is the moment that you've all been waiting for it's the most requested video since i started youtube this is all anybody ever wanted to know about is what is the difference between marine recon and marine raiders real quick let's talk about my history before we do that i need you to holster your keyboards safe let them hang and put those things away this is real men talking about real [ __ ] i know everybody's got an opinion on my hair and my beard and how i live my life but i really didn't ask for it uh you asked me for this so here we go so real quick my history i joined the marine corps in 2000 got hurt in boot camp spent five and a half months there ended up graduating company honor grad actually enlisted to be an infantryman thank god that didn't work out because i hurt my wrist lost my boat space went and saw a master master said recruit i'm gonna give you the best job in the marine corps i said i sir 4212 basic military journalism you gotta be [ __ ] me joker you think you're mickey's fellaine 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 may i have another sir and uh he gave me administration uh if you want to hear about that story go to the podcast my website i'll link it below fast forward show to my unit realized that i did not fit in with that mos and spent the next two years um trying to be something else didn't know what i wanted to be got lucky and got an individual augment something basically as a corporal by myself i went to turkey and uh was a part of operation northern watch was turned into operation enduring freedom came back ended up being a sergeant was staring down the barrel of a re-enlistment and i had no idea what i wanted to do met a guy named sergeant major mcavoy any retired marine knows who that is and he said don't be a can i say that don't be a [ __ ] and go recon roger that starring majors oh don't be a [ __ ] comma go recon so i did i took a screening with a lot of you guys know i talked about dan new took my screening december of 03 and the rest is history i went to second fourth reconnaissance went from there to third recon battalion loved that place stopping okinawa came back to second force at that time it had become second marine special operations battalion i went to selection assessment selection got selected and kept my spot on the team and then my last half of my career i spent with marine special operations command as a marine raider just in case you're asking why is this guy talking about recon and raiders i was both i hold the mls about 321 and o372 it was a great time best times in my life worst times my life so let's talk about the history of raiders and let's talk about the history of recon it's very intertwined and this is the reason why that it kind of gets confusing in world war ii in 1942 the marine corps said oh we need this like special small team special unit to be able to do amphibious raids and reconnaissance they stood up to raider battalions it was the first special operations unit that the military had headquarters marine corps base san diego california 15th of january 1942 subject volunteers for a special battalion a call has been issued by the commanding general for volunteers for a special battalion to be formed at once now this battalion will go into training for a particular combat duty overseas those men who can pass the severe requirements of this unit will be assured of immediate active service the work involves close 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 of survival but it must be understood the work is above and beyond the line of duty they did amazing work they did a great job there's a few uh marine raiders from world war ii still alive i've met some of them it is an amazing experience to be able to engage with the world war ii raiders to now and to watch this kind of whole thing kind of come together after world war ii after these raiders did their job the marine corps said there's no special on the special we're all special so we're going to disband the raidery battalions so they did and then korea kicks off the marine corps goes oh [ __ ] you remember those raiders we need another unit like that they set up a recon company it was called the amphibious reconnaissance company to make landings in north korea and that gave birth to the reconnaissance community that kind of shifted and molded throughout the years from korea to vietnam after vietnam it had a really solid foundation they stood up a forced reconnaissance unit and they had a division battalion level recon fast forward 1987 america founded socom special operations command they brought in all the different organizations of the military they had their special group of from the army the green berets the navy and then even the air force they went to the marine corps and they said hey we want to invite you to this club and the comments said uh no thanks we're all special all of my marines are special operations and we don't want to play in your uh club we're gonna make our own club so they did and that's what gave birth to marine expeditionary units which we'll get to very soon so socom was established and the forced reconnaissance units kind of dabbled with socom we worked with socom here and there but we weren't technically a part of socom thanks to donald rumsfeld he requested that the marine corps did a test bed of a unit called attachment one in 2003 they took the best and the best of the marine corps and created a special operations unit called attachment one led by colonel coats he's an amazing marine and the best of the best forced recon units and support mosses became part of that unit and they were extremely successful did a very good job and because that unit was successful gave birth to marine special operations command now at this time they they created marine special operations command known as marsoc now how are they going to get the marines to stand up that what is the best that the marine corps has to offer debt one was a bunch of forced recon marines and other specialty mosses so what they did was we gutted the reconnaissance community we took first force recon and second force recon and we made them first and second marine special operations battalion under marsoc there was also a unit being stood up called foreign military training unit and that unit became third marine special operation time now all of these units are known as first second and third marine raider battalions so as you see it's kind of coming full circle now throughout that transition we created a assessment selection process much like the other socom selection processes and an individual training course so you kind of see it started with raiders went with recon back to raiders okay so what is reconnaissance reconnaissance is this is a unit that has special operations capabilities to support the marine corps and more so support the magpaf magpaf is the marine air ground task force so back in the 80s when they said no we're not going to be part of socom and they stood up the marine expeditionary units and that really was america's like reaction force all over the world so you had a special missions unit that were capable of doing a lot of different things that could be anywhere in the world less than 24 hours and that and today these marines are still doing this they are americans action arm that can be anywhere like that to be a raid force to be search and rescue to conduct humanitarian assistance by definition their role is reconnaissance forces are a valuable asset to the marine air ground task force when the meth commander is faced with an uncertainty in the battlefield reconnaissance provides timely intelligence to the command and control for the battle space allowing the magtf to act and react to changes in the battlefield while they are not a part of socom right they do a special operations mission they're trained and equipped to operate in small teams they're trained to jump in they're trying to dive in they're trying to drive in they're trained to hump in to conduct whatever mission is required of them or conduct reconnaissance surveillance to get that information back to the commander so that he can execute his infantry battalions or the entire magtap to conduct a raid or force or whatever mission is required at the time if you want to know what they do here it is step starting time and i'm team leader with the force reconnaissance platoon coming to the maritime rave for the 31st new i came into the marine corps as infantry and reconnaissance was something this seemed more elite and it focused on smaller unit leadership working with smaller teams the recon battalions develop highly specialized skill sets specialized insertion extraction capabilities the direct action and running platoon level reconnaissance and surveillance operations we provide bdss direct action and specialized free fall capabilities as well as theater support biological training close quarters tactics first advice i would give is do your best not to fail yourself or the people around you the people who depend on you and understand that there's not much recognition with this job other than the recognition of a job well done it's going to be a lot of hard work there's going to be failure involved in it you have the talent you have the capability then you can be a force reconnaissance marine but it just takes drive becoming a recon marine for me was an interesting concept and and now that i'm older and i've done a lot of different things and i've both been in recon and marshall it was uh i try to i think about recon marines like spartans training to become spartans they really are like the reconnaissance marines in my day were just absolutely savages they are the cowboys of the marine corps big marine corps hates their guts because they are just they don't conform to the picture-perfect marine now don't get me wrong they are very much a marine and their morals and the way they fight the way they believe the way they train is more marine than anybody i've ever seen but they just don't conform to the picture-perfect version of what you see in the commercials they're they've got longer hair they're bigger they're tattooed they cuss they fight they're just absolutely savages but you know what these individuals do whatever it takes to accomplish the mission and much 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 over here i'm going to break these things down for you so you've got recon 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've got you know you've got divisions and then you've got the magpaf which is out on the boat so each division you've got each division has a force reconnaissance company and a recon battalion underneath it okay now these units go part of the mew which is the marine exposure unit we ride on navy ships okay and on the mew you have a magtf marine air ground task force which is made up of a bunch of different units to include a recon platoon typically you'll have a battalion recon platoon conducting reconnaissance surveillance more of your green side patrolling long-range reconnaissance stuff and then you have a forced recon if i could spell that will do your direct action your raids and such and also 25 miles difference um behind enemy line your force recon units will do your long range reconnaissance behind enemy lines if necessary these units conduct these operations in support of the division in support of the magtf overall in support of the marine corps who is doing it for america they are america's action arm so if you'd like this and you want to be a part of this unit the marine corps is giving you the shot to do this right out the gate so either you can lap move into reconnaissance or you can enlist in the marine corps to have a contract to be recon to do this it's not you don't need much you need a first class pft which is a 235 now i will say if you have a 235 you will not make it you will get your shot in the bare minimum to have a 235 but once you go if you do not have i would say a 275 to 285 or above you're not going to stay there i promise you that so first class pft a 105 gt score this is not your aspab score this is a gt score this is a score underneath your main aspab it's your general technical score so make sure you're paying attention to that you need a water survival qualification of one you need to be eligible for a secret clearance at a minimum if you're already a marine you can't have any page 11 entries over the last 12 months if you're trying to not move in the reconnaissance so that's not so that's not a lot of requirements to be able to enlist and go recon now i will say that the attrition rate is probably well over 50 so the way it's gonna work is if you enlist the go recon you're gonna enlist you're gonna go to boot camp hopefully you're a squad leader a guide and an honor grad and then from there you're gonna go soi you're gonna do a condensed version of sy and then you're gonna go to you're gonna go to mark marines awaiting recon training that's basically the new rip what i did was i went to a i went to second force reconnaissance company and i conducted a three-month recon indoctrination platoon i would never want to do that i probably wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy it was horrible it was a lot worse than ars which is amphibious kinds of school where i went they've since for combined both ars and brc and now they're all at camp pendleton at basic reconnaissance course so you go and you show up to mark you pass that and then you're in brc you make it through brc you are now a reconnaissance marine congratulations you have made it and you are going to live a life full of adventure and excitement be humble enjoy it it's a great brotherhood i will say this before we move on that if i would have stayed in reconnaissance units i probably would not have gotten out of the marine corps i'll leave you with that you know i don't want you guys to take all this from me so i want you to hear from these reconnaissance marines on their advice and what they had to say to you the thing that has driven me on all that time in their constant community is a mindset you know just having that tough mentality it's not going to end it's just going to keep on going you can't take this this job as okay i'm just gonna you know be tough enough to get through it the way that i look at it is when you come to the reconnaissance community you're not earning a top you're just earning the title so yes you're a reconnaissance marine and a title however it's it's more of a lifestyle and that's the way i kind of think about it because it's not given every single day you have to earn it every single day my advice again is have that that mentality that toughness mindset you know overall stay humble probably the biggest thing is just don't quit it's all about heart right find where your limits are push them push your limits every day mastery of the basic i know all through boot camp and on stuff you've heard things about slowest smooth smoothest fast well if you live by that then you will be good at everything you do mastery of the basics we've all heard the adage work smarter not harder but think about this if you work smart and hard you probably got twice as much of a chance knocking out a park good luck to all you guys train hard play hard do your best man just don't quit my tip for uh becoming a good recon marine or recon marine in general is just learn to laugh at misery develop a sick sense of humor and never say the words i quit even when you want to good luck marine raiders probably one of the most exciting times of my life as i said the history second force first force became second and first marine raider marine special operations battalions they are now called marine raid battalions we are now officially marine raiders we have their own device we have our own mos it was awesome to be on the ground floor of that and to see it come to fruition and it's even more awesome to see men carry on the tradition and deploy all over the world for you america what is a marine raider i hate i absolutely hate saying people don't really know so they go well it's kind of like navy seals but it's the marine version and the reason why we say that or the reason why people say that is because let's go back to the white board so you remember in 1987 they stood up socom okay so you have socom and underneath socom was all the different branches there's special operations branch that fell under them okay so you've got uh they've got the you got the seals naval special warfare you've got used to stock which is the green berets you've got sf and then you've got afsock which is the cct's and pjs that fall under them so we're just going to say a af okay and then now you have marsoc oh there we go okay now to fully understand this operationally right operationally these units fall under socom this is their command unlike recon these units fall under the vision or the mu okay so they support this these units marsoc being raiders so you've got seals you have a green beret and now you have raiders so yes these are marines these are marines and they fall under the marine corps as in an organization but operationally this command answers to socom operationally now it's kind of complicated because you know it's like having two step dads i guess or two dads or two you know it's like having it being in a divorce relationship it's like it's real awkward you know you have to answer this bad over here but then this dad wants you to do something else but money comes from here and then a little money comes from here and it's a you know it's it's a complicated relationship but understand that marine raiders fall under socom they answer to socom and they answer to socoms missions what missions are those direct actions special reconnaissance preparation of the environment security force assistance counterterrorism big one is foreign internal defense and encounter insurgency and these are really just core missions of special operations now my personal opinion is the environment that we fight in today and the environment that we're fighting in globally is really a special operations mission nothing really frustrates me more than watching a company of 19 year old kids get put on the front lines not that they don't do an amazing job but as either cannon fodder or just ied magnets we are not fighting a military force anymore we're fighting insurgency it's extremely complicated and it takes an unconventional operation to fight that type 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 getting your peppermint latte it's the reconnaissance marines and the marine raiders that are pushing the fight to terrorism just to clear it up you've got marshak underneath that you a lot of people have heard the term critical skills operator that is the mos o 372 that is what a marine raider is hope that makes sense so you're a marine critical skills operator marine raider i hope that makes sense so you want to become a marine raider if you're not in the military you've heard it before start right here nope start right here yellow footprints okay there is no direct access to go to marstock you're not going to join and go be a marine raider it's not going to happen you got to do your time in the marine corps and pay the man the man being the big green weenie you got to get in there get you some for at least three years about three years once you've become earned the title marine and you have done your time and you're ready to take that an extra step and go to selection this is what you're going to need to have a gt score of 105 a minimum pft of 235. again if you have a 235 you're thinking about taking the screening it ain't gonna happen sorry brother you need to up that to at least a 275 to 285 as well because if you go you're just going to disappoint yourself and you're not going to make 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 lat move to the mos 0372 and re-enlist for a period of time once you've got all those requirements you're going to take a screening once you take the screen you're going to go to asp which is basically a pre-assessment and selection once you go to assessment selection and you get selected which again attrition rate is probably well over 50 i'll say 50 but i think it's well over 50 you will then go to individual training course which is itc that course is very long you're going to learn a lot of different things that is where your foundation of becoming a marine raider really starts and you learn all the different tasks associated with the missions that i said before you want to know what a raider does check this out [Music] you're not only serving the american people but you're serving your team your team is your lifeline it's the most important thing to you downrange there is nothing more important to you in a hairy situation than your teammates there's no thanks in this line of work don't come here expecting someone to say thank you so much for what you're doing you'll get that from civilians walking on the side of the road just being the military here you do the mission you read [ __ ] and you go out again no one will know what you're doing no one will know where you are no one know what you're working in they're not going to know the the context of your job you're going to be out there with your team when you leave that country come back home that's it caliber of people i work with is the highest the caliber they've been through assessment selection they've been deemed but ultimately their moral caliber and their ability to handle themselves as a normal person from their day-to-day life is the highest caliber of people i've ever worked with i would go anywhere and do anything with any one of these guys that i work with [Music] shooting is always a plus the ability to precisely put around where you need to greatly enhances the survivability of the team and reduces collateral damage and increases mission success the piece over being top to right range an average person's reaction time is a quarter of a second so when the target presents itself you have a quarter second you react to a change and act on it so you start at the low ready the target presents itself you have quarter second to get your sights on target and squeeze the trigger and make sure it's accurate and dead center in a vehicle getting out of a vehicle taking cover exchanging fire from that aspect versus standing online and just shooting paper targets all day i'm working on basic marksmanship skills most of the guys here have done that we're at that level and we're looking for the next level of training and that's absolutely what they're capturing for us here we're shooting in civilian attire where all we have is a concealed weapon and we have to react or we might be in a full kit as our training we're prepared to do anything that's required of us and anything that might be interesting to accomplish our adversaries overseas are learning our ways so we're having to shift and adjust our training and do things differently so every day is is learning you can never walk around and think that you have it all know it all the men to my left and right they have a sense of drive they have a sense of pride there's just something about them that you'll never find anywhere else somebody's thinking about marshall what i would say to him is go for it it never hurts to try the only thing that's ever going to hurt is your pride but just pick yourself up test yourself off and do it again don't take it all for me you want to know what it's like to be a raider hear from these guys fitness is going to be probably your largest component of your preparation for assessment selection first thing you need to do is you need to look up and identify the standards of what you're going to be held to you need to develop and design a process and a training regime which is going to successfully set you up for the rigors of assessment selection marine radar prep is all i need to say your mindset comes from within you and within yourself right no one's here to help you with that process all right there's no book on developing your mindset like sorry that's just it's not going to happen best thing you can do for your mindset is you can ask yourself why do you want to do this and why do you want to become a marine reader once you've identified that answer every day you need to fine-tune and address that answer and develop and redevelop that question to yourself all right if you're ever getting a rut you ever get stuck go back to that statement of why the [ __ ] you want to do it continued answer is that you it's x y and z but it still leads you down the same end state which is going to selection and becoming a marine raider then put your nose down suck it up and [ __ ] continue on your path uh one of my favorite pet peeves and one of the guys when i was in my leadership position was a was a mindset and what i think is different is the everyone's heard this the light switch be able to turn the light switch on and off okay so we've been at war with iraq and afghanistan for how long right so those are very easy mindset we're going over there we're about the guys we group we plan we go and execute missions and it's uh it's pretty cut and dry on the other side of that now that that war is ending and things are becoming more political the statement department's involved you got the executive branch involved um oga is involved so your words at this point have meaning okay so what you were to be able to do and talk and the way you acted to get away with in a combat zone will get you completely kicked out of the country especially if you're working under an mle you're working underneath a uh achieve a station for the cia or anyone let's say just about anybody in the uh embassy that uh doesn't like you um we'll uh we'll we'll have you uh persona non grotted and a quick plane flight home the the term professional warrior i think the green beret got that one everyone's kind of adopted their own little way a way of doing that but it's absolutely true you have to be able to understand what your your mission is what your mindset is and how you're going to accomplish that goal so afghanistan yes we all know this it's easy okay but when you go into the realm of let's say uh of an embassy there's a very very sensitive relations and if one let's say foreign dignitary or diplomat does not like you or what you're doing you're not handling yourself correctly it's a career ender you're gonna go back home your trust is lost and uh and stuff like that so your education on where you're going the people you're dealing with and which what your agenda is what you're trying to get across and the day you work for the united states but it doesn't mean you have to do this smoke and mirrors type stuff you can be friends with somebody and they know they're doing the same thing you are but have the mentality of yes we're gonna be friends we're working towards a common goal but you have to be able to be that nice guy you have to be that intellectual guy you have to listen to what people are saying you have to um make form better questions be able to be sociable not everybody's good at it okay some people are some people are big gigantic hammers and some people are scalpels there is there is a finesse portion to it but i would say at this point in time i'm going to say that's about 80 of our job is maintaining foreign relations so we can keep this uh keep this country together so we're not you know fighting other wars that we don't need to be fighting or losing more brothers a progressive approach to fitness like what nick's doing with umc prep um you're getting it early i wish i would have got something like that as early as i did and learned how to live correctly how to eat properly and most importantly of all this thing recovery people don't take enough time to regenerate their body to build on onto the next one and that's the only thing that's going to give you your mental relief and it's the only thing that's going to carry to your 20 years and keep you in the community and then be around the people that you really want to be around if you don't do that it's going to be a very very swift and hard exit out of the unit which is uh which is not good for anybody listen to the press program listen to what uh if you're already in if uh and then uh the osmc prep program pay attention to the rest and recovery please 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 about it these days yeah it didn't work out well for me got a lot of cash injuries and then had to leave and it's uh it wasn't it wasn't a very easy road for me stay safe and uh i'll see your brothers again the irishman raiders away from home about 65 to 75 percent of the year that's 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 maintaining stability and relationships gonna count on you communicating with your significant other reassuring 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 limited time that you have with them hey guys thanks for watching hope that cleared some things up if you're looking to join the challenge join the challenge be the challenge jump into the challenge whatever it may be if you're going to do this go to www.raider it's a 12-week training program that josh and i just released it will get you ready for a spock and a s check it out if you are not there yet go to www.usmcprep.com that will help you get ready for boot camp and here's the thing you don't need it you don't need that program but if you want to excel if you want to graduate boot camp and then take selection to go to recon or later on then you need to be in that 275 to 285 range if not 300 and on your cft check those links out i'll link them below you guys know the deal never quit never surrender always forward see you guys next time [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Nick Koumalatsos

Views: 2,973,205

Rating: 4.8778019 out of 5

Keywords: marine raider, nick koumalatsos, raiders, koumalatsos, nicholas koumalatsos, nick, recon marine, marsoc, marines, usmc, reconnaissance, marine raiders, marine recon, The Raider Project, reconnaissance marine, entrepreneur

Id: nBOrclf6rwA

Length: 32min 4sec (1924 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 26 2017