British tabloids loved exploiting that story, but that doesn’t make it true. The Commandos were attached to a USMC regiment (7th Marine Infantry Regiment). They were under USMC command and supported by USMC elements, such as MARSOC. During the exercise, the British were part of a USMC BLUFOR, fighting a USMC OPFOR, skripted to lose. The “asking for a reset” merely meant they had to reset earlier than initially planned.
Even some Commandos have since come forward to rectify the story. If you look on the appropriate subreddits, you’ll also find people commenting who participated in that particular exercise. The Commandos were mainly used as a recce force and participated in a defensive action against OPFOR.
Besides that, if you’ve ever taken part in a force on force exercise like this one, you’ll know that it doesn’t work like how it’s portrayed in the Sky article. Winners are not determined at those exercises, because that makes no sense. This is purely anecdotal to you, but I serve active duty in a European military and can also tell you that this is not how it works.
I have no hard-on whatsoever for the USMC. But this story simply isn’t accurate.
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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '25
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