Unlike nearly every other large military force, the United States Marine Corps does not expand primarily through overwhelming firepower or even large-scale occupation, but through precision strikes and rapid deployment. For over two hundred years, the Marines have served as America’s first responders and its most adaptable expeditionary force. Amphibious assaults, emergency evacuations, crisis response, and countless other rapid deployment operations conducted by Marine commanders have slowly but steadily turned the Corps into the most elite and most effective quick-reaction force the world has ever seen. This is the spirit that guides the U.S. Marines, the Continental Defense Force’s designated Expeditionary Operations unit.

All Marine commanders are empowered to conduct operations on behalf of America, as real-time consultations with Pentagon Command and the Department of Defense is often impossible for front-line expeditionary units, but the U.S. Marines’ specific mandate is to handle the most pressing and sensitive rapid deployment missions within and outside of American territory, especially those with national security implications for America and its allied nations. This force also handles crisis response operations and conducts many joint operations with allied or friendly powers, such as the Atlantic Maritime Alliance, Continental Defense Coalition, and Pacific Security Republic.

Historically, the U.S. Marines were assigned specifically to the Eastern Coastal Defense Zone and remains headquartered at Marine Base 72 in the Norfolk Naval system, but its operations have expanded to the full width and breadth of the Continental Defense Force’s rapid-response ethos, with units in all four territorial zones of the continent. The evolving security situation in the Former Neutral Zone remains a focus for the force, with a number of units directly working with allied military forces to end the insurgent crisis through direct peacekeeping operations and rapid intervention. Other important operations include forging new tactical partnerships with Pacific Zone powers, and ongoing security operations with neutral territories within American influence that America is eager to finally bring into the alliance.

As the 21st Century advances, the U.S. Marines seek to build new operational ties between America and its allies, its partners, and its friends, after several of the most turbulent decades in regional history. Through forging tactical connections and representing both the olive branch and the sword, this unit serves as a critical piece of America’s foreign and domestic security apparatus, and it is prepared to meet the challenges of this new century in the greatest traditions of the Marine Corps.

The U.S. Marines’ headquarters is Marine Base 72, which is located in the Norfolk Naval system. This Expeditionary-class base is the largest installation along the former Neutral Zone and plays host to dozens of units every day as the hub of activities in the region, in addition to coordinating TF72’s activities.