A Reconnaissance
Officer MOS
What makes a recon officer?
by Capt Benjamin J. Hodgins
ol Smith sighed to himself as
he sat down in his Marine
expeditionary unit (MEU)
briefing room for the capa-
bilities briefings for which he had been
waiting all day. He already knew what
information was going tobe presented; he
wasmore interested in the presenters. The
one to whom he was most looking forward was the MEU reconnaissance
(recon) platoon commander as it was always a crapshoot on how the young officer did. 2d Recon Battalion had sent him
C
>Capt Hodgins is an intelligence officer who has served as an infantry platoon
commander in Afghanistan and in Iraq has served as a recon platoon commander.
He has also served in various intelligence billets.
a brandnew second lieutenant only 7
months out of Ground Intelligence Officers Course (GIOC) this time. He would
have preferred the officer to have had
time as an infantry platoon commander
but was happy just to have a recon platoon. 1“Aww shucks,” he thought, “I wish
someone would just tell me what makesa
recon officer so that I know what they
should know.”
The Problem
Platoon and company commanders
in the division recon battalions currently face few prerequisites, undergo
no standardized screening process, and
