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thedrifter
12-01-03, 06:22 AM
Marine, Navy Joint Patrols Debut


Associated Press
November 30, 2003


ARTA BEACH, Djibouti - A new U.S. strategy of sending the Navy's most powerful weapons and sophisticated surveillance ships on joint operations with Marine combat units was successful in an anti-smuggling operation in Iraq and could help the war against terrorism, military officials told The Associated Press.

The change in tactics and training for U.S. Navy ships and Marines forces, which have long worked in tandem but not as a combined unit in the world's hotspots, come as part of a revamping of U.S. security services after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

In the Iraq operation, the Marines went ashore on the al-Arab peninsula and searched for smugglers' hideouts as crews on Navy ships exchanged intelligence with the Marines on the ground, resulting in both teams capturing smugglers at sea and on land, said Col. Michael Regner, commander of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit based near San Diego.

Reconnaissance teams on shore took pictures of suspects thought to be smuggling oil, copper, livestock and people and passed the information to ships, Regner told AP, detailing last month's operation. Several ships were captured and the smugglers put on trial before an Iraqi judge brought to the ship.

"I actually had a pirate ship taken down," Regner said. "I couldn't necessarily take them down (on shore), but I had the intelligence capability and the intelligence products to take and send the pictures out to the ... ships, which then took them down."

The 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit is part of the first-ever Expeditionary Strike Group, which combines the three ships that carry the Marines with a cruiser, a destroyer, a frigate and a submarine to create a flexible force that can act independently. ESG-1 set sail on Aug. 22 and has been trying out new tactics in the past few months.

In the past, the Marines only traveled with the three troop carriers and was known as an Amphibious Ready Group.

"The Amphibious Ready Group did not provide the lethality you need to be effective in the global war on terror," Regner said. "For the first time in my 27 years in the Marine Corps, we have worked this closely with the Naval forces still out at sea."

The 2,000 Marines under Regner's command have trained for 29 scenarios, including everything from evacuating a besieged embassy to feeding victims of a disaster to capturing a strategic beach. But to help fight terrorism, Regner said he has given his Marines extra training in dealing with smugglers and boarding ships at sea.

"In my opinion, many terrorists are moving by sea routes at this time," he said.

In the future, two ESGs will sail the world's oceans 365 days a year. One will be kept in the Atlantic or Mediterranean Oceans and the other in the Pacific or Indian Oceans.

The three troop ships in ESG-1 include the San Diego-based USS Peleliu, USS Germantown, USS Ogden, and the warships include the guided-missile cruiser USS Port Royal, the frigate USS Jarrett, the destroyer USS Decatur, and the attack submarine USS Greeneville, which in addition to carrying cruise missiles, can also covertly deliver special operations forces in hostile areas.

Regner's Marines recently practiced amphibious landings and basic infantry skills on a gravelly Djiboutian beach. They said having the additional ships would aid them if called upon to carry out a surgical strike against terrorists.

"If we're doing a raid, traditionally we wouldn't land artillery, but with the naval gunfire, now we have support," Capt. Eric Hamstra, the commander of A Co., 1st Marine Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, said. "We also have an increased intelligence capability."

The USS Port Royal and the USS Decatur are among the most sophisticated combat vessels in the U.S. Navy, using the Aegis weapons system, which seamlessly integrates the ships' radar, sonar and weapons systems. The ships have cruise missiles and five-inch deck guns to hit inland targets, as well as anti-submarine rockets and anti-aircraft missiles to defend themselves.

Aboard the USS Germantown, Cdr. Henry Angelino said the new doctrine has changed the way he runs his ship.

"We get more involved in the boardings and things going on ashore," Angelino said. "If you send the Marines in, you can flush people out and we can deal with them more effectively with the cruiser and the destroyer."

Halfway through their eight-month deployment, Regner said the ESG concept has already proved itself.

"Expeditionary Strike Groups are the way of the future," he said.

Sound Off.....Which other military services would you combine to make special units like the Marine Expeditionary Units?

Sempers,

Roger
:marine: