Book Review: 'Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (The Tom Clancy Military Library)'

(C) 1996 Berkley Books and Jack Ryan Limited Partnership

On November 1, 1996, Berkley Books (which at the time was the paperback division of G.P. Putnam's Sons but has since been folded into the larger Penguin Random House conglomerate) published Tom Clancy's Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Force. Co-written by Clancy's researcher and defense expert John D. Gresham, Marine is the fourth volume in what is now billed as The Tom Clancy Military Library but was originally known as the Guided Tour series. 

Fans of the late novelist and conservative commentator know that Clancy was an unabashed admirer of the United States Marine Corps. His best known fictional character, John Patrick Ryan, Sr. started his career in government as a second lieutenant in the Marines, a fact that has been mentioned in three of the five "Jack Ryan" films and Amazon's Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, as well as in several of Clancy's novels. 

"Marine." Say the word to any American, and you can count on a strong reaction. The word brings a vivid image to the mind of every American listener - perhaps John Wayne in The Sands of Iwo Jima or Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. Outside the United States, there are equally strong reactions, both positive and negative. Like other American icons such as Harley Davidson, Disney, or FedEx, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) is known as an institution that works. When the world throws problems at an American President, it is often Marines who are sent to make them right. - Tom Clancy in Marine 101: Ethos, Chapter One of Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit 

In Marine's 329 pages (I'm not counting the Bibliography), Clancy and Gresham (who gets equal billing in the book's second edition) take the reader on a guided tour of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit - Special Operations Capable, which is usually shortened as MEU (SOC) and pronounced as Mew, not M-E-U. Based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, the 26th MEU (SOC) is one of the seven MEUs on active duty and one of the three assigned to the East Coast. (The West Coast hosts three MEUs, while the seventh is based on the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa.) 

Like its sister MEUs, the 26th is a Marine air-ground task force, the smallest combat-capable task force fielded by the Corps. Formerly known as a Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU), the MEU is centered around a Ground Combat Element (GCE). This is a battalion-sized force of Marines, a platoon of M1 Abrams tanks, a platoon of armored amphibious vehicles, an artillery battery,  a recon platoon, and other units that can be added depending on specific mission requirements. Along with the attached Navy personnel (medical corpsmen and such), the GCE has a total strength of around 1,100 Marines and sailors

The MEU also has an Air Combat Element. In 1996, when Marine was originally published, the ACE included a squadron of MV-22 tiltrotor Osprey transports; a mix of light, medium, and heavy helicopters, including transports, scouts, and attack helos; VSTOL jets (AV-8B Harriers); and tanker support (which was usually based in the U.S. until the MEU was deployed).

The MEU's combat elements, naturally, require command, control, and communications; these are provided by the Command Element, which also handles such things as electronic warfare support, intelligence gathering, counterintelligence, legal support, law enforcement, and public relations. The MEU commander, usually a lieutenant colonel, leads the Command Element and coordinates the three other elements (GCE, ACE, and Logistics). 

As Marine explains, these three elements are supported by a Logistics Element (which handles the tasks of making sure the Marine air-ground task force is supplied, fed, and maintained properly so it can carry out its mission. And because the MEU (SOC) can't get from Point A to Point B without support from the "Gator Navy," the book discusses the naval forces that are associated with it. 

When the book's first edition was published, the MEU (SOC) was teamed with what the Navy referred to as an Amphibious Ready Group or ARG. The 1996 edition uses the term ARG exclusively to describe the seven warship task forces (three amphibious ships, one cruiser, one destroyer, one frigate, and one attack sub) typically connected to a Marine Expeditionary Unit.  Clancy and Gresham refer to the combination of the Marine and Navy elements as a "MEU/ARG team."

In 2018, though, the Navy refers to the MEU/ARG team as an Expeditionary Strike Group.  (Note, this change occurred after the book was published.)


An in-depth look at the United States Marine Corps-in the New York Times bestselling tradition of Submarine, Armored Cav, and Fighter Wing

Only the best of the best can be Marines. And only Tom Clancy can tell their story--the
fascinating real-life facts more compelling than any fiction. Clancy presents a unique insider's look at the most hallowed branch of the Armed Forces, and the men and women who serve on America's front lines.

Marine includes:

• An interview with the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Charles "Chuck" Krulak
• The tools and technology of the Marine Expeditionary Unit
• The role of the Marines in the present and future world
• An in-depth look at recruitment and training
• Exclusive photographs, illustrations, and diagrams - Publisher's blurb, Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit

My Take

Even though most of my childhood was dominated by the divisiveness of the Vietnam/Watergate era and its aftermath, I used to dream of joining the military. I wasn't always consistent about which of the armed services I wanted to be in; sometimes it was the Navy that tugged at my heartstrings, and other times it was the Air Force. Many times, especially when my friends and I played "guns" in our quiet corner of Westchester, I pretended I was either in the Army or the Marines. (For some reason or other, I never thought about the Coast Guard.)

In the back of my mind, of course, I knew that this was just a dream; I acquired cerebral palsy shortly after I was born, so naturally, a military career was not in the cards for me. But I still loved the armed forces, and I did a lot of reading about them, especially about the many battles and campaigns fought by the Army and Marines throughout America's history.

I bought the first edition of Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Amphibious Unit not long after it was published 22 years ago. I already had the first three Guided Tour series books, and I was determined to get them all.

The book follows the now-familiar template established in 1993's Submarine, the first entry in the Guided Tour series. It features the author's overview of Marine Corps history, an interview with Gen. Charles Krulak, who was then the Commandant of the Marine Corps, plus several detailed chapters about the weapons, vehicles, aircraft, non-combat equipment, rations, and vessels used by the MEU (SOC) and its associated Navy Amphibious Ready Group.

As is the case with Clancy's non-fiction work, Marine is written not just for readers who are familiar with the military and how the armed forces live and work. It's also aimed (I would say primarily) at the general reader who has not served in the military and only knows what he or she has seen in movies or TV shows.

The book is chock full of facts and anecdotes about the Marines and how they recruit, train, equip, and deploy the men and women who answer the call to be among "the few and the proud." Lavishly illustrated with official Marine Corps photographs, line drawings by the talented Laura Alpher, and supplemented with photos taken by John D. Gresham, Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit is both informative and entertaining.