The Marine Raiders were elite units established by the United States Marine Corps to conduct special amphibious light infantry warfare, particularly in landing in rubber boats and operating behind the lines. In order to first assess the value of Marine special operations forces permanently detached to the United States Special Operations Commanda small unit of 86 men commanded by Col. Robert J. The majority of the combat personnel assigned to the two battalions were drawn from the Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance community. Each battalion consists of four companies and each company consists of four fourteen-man Marine Special Operations Teams. The first deployment for Marine Raiders was in Afghanistan in This initial deployment was marked with controversy when elements from Fox Company, 2nd MSOB were involved in a shooting incident. The incident, that resulted in as many as 19 civilians killed, involved a complex ambush by insurgents that included a suicide VBIED and small arms fire.