Always Faithful, Always Forward, Dick Couch
Always Faithful, Always Forward, Dick Couch
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Always Faithful, Always Forward
The Forging of a Special Operations Marine

Author: Dick Couch

Narrator: John Pruden

Unabridged: 11 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/03/2014


Synopsis

The Marine Special Operations Command ("MARSOC") is the newest component of the military's shift toward a fully integrated Special Operations Command structure. At first, the Marines were strongly against any Marines serving under anyone other than another Marine.

Then 9/11 happened.

In the years following, Marine forces found themselves growing more agreeable to inter-branch operational command, finally forming the Marine Special Operations Command in 2006. Always Faithful, Always Forward follows the journey of a class of Marine candidates from their recruitment, through assessment and selection, to their qualification as Marines Special Operators.

The assessment, selection, and training regimes are a combination of psychological testing and intense military training as well as being a physical and professional rite of passage. MARSOC Marines must be efficient, agile, independent, and prepared to live hard in the field. They are warriors trained in the full range of military skills, as well as teachers who can train locals to defend their communities and lead them in battle. But above all, they are Marines. Their ability to leverage their numbers by embedding with the locals and to live in remote locations has, in their short history, made them a valuable force and one with great utility in remote reaches of the world.

Retired Navy Captain Dick Couch has been given unprecedented access to this new command and to the individual Marines of this exceptional special-operations unit, allowing him to chronicle the history and development of the Marine Special Operations Command and how they find, recruit, and train their special operators.

About Dick Couch

Dick Couch is a 1967 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He graduated from BUD/S Class 45 in 1969, and was the class Honorman. As Whiskey Platoon Commander with SEAL Team One in Vietnam, he led one of the only successful POW rescue operations of that conflict. Following his release from active duty in the Navy, he served as a maritime and paramilitary case officer with the CIA. In 1997, he retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of Captain. Dick is also the author ofThe Finishing School, Chosen Soldier, and Down Range, as well as four novels: Seal Team One, Pressure Point, Silent Descent, and Rising Wind. Dick lives with his wife, Julia, in Ketchum, Idaho.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Steven

While trying to do research for a future project that had a modern Marine Raider as the protagonist, I realized that my knowledge of the unit was less than my knowledge of most other American special operations forces. My knowledge of those other units comes from having grown up reading every single......more

Always Faithful, Always Forward The Forging of A Special Operations Marine By Couch, Dick If you think Marines are just muscle bound teenagers who want to defend their country with a taste for violence this book will prove you wrong. Special Operators are a class of warrior with specialized training i......more

Goodreads review by Jim

Could you make it as a Special Operations Marine? Best selling author, Dick Couch takes you through the process in his new book Always Faithful. Always Forward. As in several of his previous books, Dick goes with a class seeking to graduate as Special Ops Marines. He lives, eats, sleeps—what little......more