"In the age of modern warfare the changing landscape of the 21st century battlefield has demanded a transformation within the US Marine Corps Special Operations. Adapting to a huge range of combat environments, an enormous array of specialist uniforms, protective armor and battlefield electronic devices have been developed to facilitate missions in the most extreme conditions. A special forces operator may now have available to him a dozen distinct types of body armor and two dozen different weapons; never before in American military history has so much been given to so few. Authored by J. Kenneth Eward, professor at the American Military University, and illustrated throughout with official and private photographs and meticulous color plates, this volume offers the first detailed, authoritative study of the characteristics, and the performance in the field, of the most modern combat gear and weapons provided for USMC specialist operators to date."--Amazon. com.

Introduction : Modern advances in equipment design -- The rationale ; The TASKS : Divisional reconnaissance battalions -- Force recon companies -- Detachment one -- MARSOC ; CAMOUFLAGE & FIELD CLOTHING : Camouflage patterns and practice -- Web equipment colors -- Field attire -- Insignia ; COMBAT ENSEMBLES FOR RAIDS & RECONS : The operational requirement documents -- The RPIE group of equipment -- The CQBE group of equipment -- The Pecos tragedy -- Interim FSBE -- Second-generation FSBE -- MIAK and MBAK -- Change to CQBE since 2006- -- the RBAV ; MARSOC's EQUIPMENT CHOICES -- OTHER IDIVIDUAL EQUIPMENT -- OBSERVATION, TARGETING, & COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT : day telescopes and binoculars -- Night vision devices -- Target designators -- Surveillance equipment -- Navigation systems -- Communications - Radios -- Tactical information systems ; SMALL ARMS & LIGHT SUPPORT WEAPONS : Fighting knives -- Pistols -- Carbines and rifles -- Small arms accessories --Sniper and marksman rifles -- Shotguns -- Hand grenades and grenade launchers -- Light support weapons ; INSERTION & EXTRACTION : Parachuting equipment -- Rope suspension equipment -- Combat swimming and diving equipment -- passenger safety and survival equipment.