

Berger has indicated its intention to reduce all tank units and law enforcement battalions, and to reduce infantry units in a bid to reduce the strength from its current strength of 184,000 to around 170,000.

Under the direction of the Commandant of the Marines, General David Berger, the Corps is being restructured. Read more : After 110 years of flying, the Navy gets its first black female fighter pilot The Marine Corps’ military working dog program is undergoing a large-scale review that aims to standardize equipment and improve training - and as part of that, the working dog population is expected to drop significantly, a program director Bill Childress told. And his community of military working dogs, used for everything from patrols and bomb detection to security for high officials, is no exception. “They were carrying out the silent success we expect of Marines of this caliber.The Marine Corps is undertaking force-wide restructuring to ensure it has the right composition to face future conflicts. “These were some multi-dimensional operators,” Landis said. For MARSOC, that can mean a variety of missions, to include foreign internal defense - that is, “helping the government prosper and protect itself from insurgencies, lawlessness and subversion,” he said. Landis said the Marines were on a routine deployment. Taliban and other groups opposed to government rule have been blamed for the abductions of well-known political and business leaders there, according to report on the province published late last year by the Naval Postgraduate School.Ĭorruption and rising violence between drug smugglers and Iranian operatives were cited as other security concerns. Security for the region, which borders Iran, transitioned from NATO to Afghan control in late July. He leaves behind a fiancée, according to local media.įew details have emerged about the Marines’ mission in Herat province. Wrinkle, of Dallastown, Pa., was a dog handler.

The son of Brecksville’s former police chief, he left the Corps a few years ago before deciding to re-enlist, local media reported. Kancler, of Brecksville, Ohio, was a joint terminal attack controller. He leaves behind a wife, according to media reports from his hometown. He declined to comment on whether a fire caused the deaths.ĭolphin, of Moscow, Pa., worked as an element leader within the battalion, Landis said. It’s unclear whether they were evacuated from Afghanistan, he said.Ī military dog also died in the incident, Landis said. military personnel in Afghanistan.īut other sources with knowledge of the mishap told Marine Corps Times that the men died in a house fire.Ī fourth MARSOC Marine and an Army special operator sustained unspecified injures as a result of the incident, said Maj. MARSOC officials said only that the men died in a “non-combat” incident, and that the matter is being investigated by U.S. All three were assigned to Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command’s 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Wrinkle, 29, were killed in Herat province, according to a Defense Department news release issued late Wednesday. Three Marine Corps special operators died Sunday along with a military dog after their living quarters caught fire in western Afghanistan. 3 MARSOC Marines, dog die in Afghan blaze
