US Army Special Forces and 101st Airborne train together. Photo by Spc. Robert Venegas | 5th Sfg

Soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, receive training on all-terrain vehicles from 5th Special Forces Group Jan. 12 on Fort Campbell. The training concluded a five part combined training exercise between the two units.

The Commandant talked about integrating with SOCOM.  It looks like the US Army is already doing that with Special Forces and their Global Response Force units.

Is a modification of this what he was talking about?

The USMC's direction on unconventional warfare is tortured.  The Marines have gone from no special units before WW2, to developing Recon, Parachute, and other units during that conflict, to parrying it down to only Recon afterwards, to developing MEU Special Operations Capable, to where we are today with many "elites inside an elite".

With MARSOC taking 3 Battalions of Marines along with supporting units (and of course the desire by the wing to provide dedicated air), something has got to give.

I wonder if the basic design of the Army makes integration with SOCOM an easier fit than it does with the Marine Corps?  This bears watching but I'm betting that resistance from both conventional Marine Corps units, MARSOC and SOCOM will make "integration" difficult.