I have a book on Carlson's Marine Raiders that I recieved from the Military Book Club.
Carlson seems to have been somthing of a left-wing kook. Part of the unit training included group discussions of what kind of society the Raiders would want after the war. One of Carlson's suggestions was a [b]$25,000 maximum wage[/b]. He was upset when most of the Raiders didn't agree on that one.
FDR's son was involved in the Raiders, and they were sort of a pet project of FDR's. Consequently, they recieved FDR's protection and recieved preferred equipment. They were fully equiped with M-1s when most Marines were still using 1903s. They had more automatic weapons than other Marine units. They also had some British .55 Boys AT rifles.
On Makin Island, Carlson proved to be an overly cautious commander. And, a few Japanese snipers were able to hold up the Raiders on a number of occasions, inflicting quite a few causlties in the process.
A movie was made about the raid on Makin Island during the war. It was called "Gung Ho" (the Raider's motto), and recieved critical acclaim. The Raiders felt it was very inaccurate, although Carlson had been a technical advisor, and several real Makin raid Raiders were on the cast.
"Gung Ho", by the way, is a Chinese term that means something like "working together", and it embodies Carlson's socialist ideals. It ia ironic that the meaning has been twisted around in popular culture . . .