Special Operations Command USMC Patch

Read the bottom of this patch closely: it says UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS FORCES, because the command's full title is U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command, the Marine component of U.S. Special Operations Command. MARSOC was announced on November 1, 2005, and activated on February 24, 2006, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Its first commander was Dennis Hejlik. Before it existed, the Corps had tested the idea with Detachment One, which served in Iraq alongside Navy SEALs. MARSOC gave the Marine Corps a permanent seat at the special operations table.

On August 6, 2014, MARSOC gave its combat units the Marine Raider name, honoring the Raider battalions of World War II. The command is built around the Marine Raider Regiment, with elements at Camp Lejeune and Camp Pendleton, California, along with the Marine Raider Support Group and the Marine Raider Training Center. Marines who complete the Individual Training Course earn the title Critical Skills Operator, and since 2016 they have worn the Marine Special Operator Insignia. MARSOC elements have deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Inherent Resolve, Operation Juniper Shield, Operation Pacific Eagle in the Philippines and Operation Freedom's Sentinel. A 2019 report counted roughly 300 deployments since 2006.

This round patch is 4 inches across with a gold merrowed edge around a scarlet ring, the Marine Corps colors from edge to center. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND arcs across the top in gold letters, and UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS FORCES runs around the bottom. The gold center holds a black spearhead, the mark of U.S. Special Operations Command, with three bands wrapped around its shaft. Set inside the blade is the Eagle, Globe and Anchor in silver and gold. Spearhead and emblem together say exactly what MARSOC is: Marines at the point of the special operations spear. The backing is iron-on.

MARSOC is young by Marine Corps standards, but the Raider name it carries goes back to the Pacific in World War II. Raiders train for small-team work far from the nearest support, and the Individual Training Course is built to find the Marines who can do it. Many of the Marines who joined in the early years came out of Force Reconnaissance and Detachment One, and they set the standard the command still holds. Families at Lejeune and Pendleton carried their share of those deployments. Since 2006 the command has sent its teams on deployments around the world.

It sits well in a shadow box with a Raider's or Critical Skills Operator's ribbons and qualification badges, or on a vest worn to a unit reunion. It also makes a good gift for a Marine headed to the Assessment and Selection pipeline, or for a parent proud of the one who made it through. The patch comes ready to iron on to a jacket, gear bag or range bag. MARSOC is the Marine Corps' tip of the spear, and this patch says so in gold and scarlet.