Marine Special Operations Command — MARSOC

Though MARSOC Marines tend to be former Recon or Infantry, any Marine with the guts to give it a shot and the muscle to match can end up as an operator for Special Operations Command (SOCOM), the unit MARSOC falls beneath. They also remain somewhat of a sore spot among Marines — common among complaints are that anyone can try out, they don't fall under traditional Marine command structures, they think they're special, etc. The indoctrination for MARSOC is quite rigorous: Assessment and Selection Preparation and Orientation Course — A 21-day course that is basically just practice for the real initial test. Assessment and Selection — A 19-day course which weeds out anyone unable to complete the grueling 7-month training evolution to become MARSOC. Upon graduation, students will attend a course broken down into four phases: Phase 1 — Communications and combat medicine — the culmination of this phase is completion of the Survival Evade Resist Escape school. Phase 2 — Amphibious operations, tactics, weapons and special reconnaissance. Phase 3 — Urban operations: marksmanship, close quarters battle and urban combat. Phase 4 — Eight weeks of irregular warfare training, followed by the culminating exercise.