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Of course Marines should be in uniform and armed.

Via the Marine Corps Times: Spain-based Marines trying to respond to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, were delayed for three hours as U.S. government officials debated whether they should wear their uniforms and carry weapons, according to Tuesday’s report from the House Benghazi Committee. The platoon commander of a…

Via the Marine Corps Times:

Spain-based Marines trying to respond to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, were delayed for three hours as U.S. government officials debated whether they should wear their uniforms and carry weapons, according to Tuesday’s report from the House Benghazi Committee.

The platoon commander of a fleet anti-terrorism security team, which can be dispatched to embassies and consulates in times of crises, told the committee that his Marines changed into and out of their uniforms four times on the plane before taking off for Libya, the report states.

Here’s kind of a radical thought- Marines are lawful combatants of a uniformed service, and that there was a question at all whether they should be dispatched in uniform, and armed with their weapons is an indictment of the State Department’s fundamental inability to grasp reality.

By the way, Patrick Kennedy is one of those names that keeps cropping up in disasters.

Could the FAST team have reached Benghazi in time to influence the outcome of events there?  I don’t know. But how on earth was there any question about how they should be dressed and armed. They’re Marines, not Rent-A-Cops.

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Responses to “Of course Marines should be in uniform and armed.”

  1. Paul L. Quandt

    The entire current administration is an enemy of the U.S. Constitution. And should be treated accordingly.
    Paul

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  2. Diogenes of NJ

    Our Embassy Marines are not cannon fodder to be used at the whim of the Secretary of State. I would consider an order to enter a foreign country armed and not in uniform to be an illegal order. Special forces are an entirely different matter, as are CIA operations.
    We can on longer rely on the integrity of individuals up the chain of command to accept the responsibility for their actions. When a few stars are placed on the table in these questionable circumstances, I may reconsider.

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  3. timactual

    I seem to recall that not wearing a uniform would make them “unlawful combatants” in violation of the laws of war (such as they are) and without the protections of international law.

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  4. Krag

    Unreal. Simply unreal.

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  5. Krag

    Perhaps I am outdated, but to reinforce the stupidity of the whole conversation: FAST Marines are not selected, they are 03s that were assigned to FAST. They received no training in covert TTPs or plain clothes operations, they were simply Marine riflemen assigned to a rapid-response security guard unit. (If this is now wrong, please inform me.)
    So talk of sending them in out-of-uniform is brazenly ignorant. They are fast-responding security guards, not Recon or MarSOC operators.

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