thedrifter
12-30-03, 08:42 AM
Date: December 29, 2003
Units deploying to Japan can expect Iraq instead
By Gordon Lubold
Times staff writer
Most Marines scheduled to deploy to Japan for routine, six-month rotations in the coming year instead most likely will be headed to Iraq.
Three of four infantry battalions that normally would deploy to Okinawa under the Unit Deployment Program will be sent to support Operation Iraqi Freedom II, as the postwar operation in Iraq is called, a Marine spokesman said Dec. 19.
Two California-based battalions currently arriving in Okinawa for regular UDP rotations — 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, from Twentynine Palms and 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, from Camp Pendleton — have begun preparing to replace Army units leaving Iraq this spring.
The third battalion slated for deployment to Okinawa early next year — and now likely a contender for deployment to Iraq — is 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines, a Reserve unit based in Bridgeton, Mo.
“There are very strong indications that battalions previously scheduled to support the UDP will be redirected to support OIF II,” said Capt. Dan McSweeney, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon.
“Preliminary movement plans indicate that the two initial battalions will arrive in Okinawa and redeploy to Iraq,” McSweeney said.
The diversion will significantly reduce the number of Marines sent to Okinawa at least until March 2005. Under the UDP, Marine infantry units deploy to Pacific Command in Okinawa, typically for six months.
Details still are being worked out, and it is unclear when 3/4 and 1/5 would leave for Iraq, McSweeney said.
The move comes as Corps officials prepare to support the new mission in Iraq, slated to begin in March. Originally, the Corps was asked to send six battalions for occupation duty during the course of the Corps’ 12-month mission there. But officials announced Nov. 6 that three more battalions would be required to get the job done.
The bulk of the Marines slated for duty in Iraq will come from I Marine Expeditionary Force. Lt. Gen. James Conway, commanding general of I MEF, was expected to announce the specific units that will go shortly after Christmas.
Marine Forces Reserve has announced the final list of Reserve units slated to go to Iraq beginning in March. A detachment from 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company and some Marine aviation logistics squadrons that had been slated to go in June will now be deploying for Iraq in early spring, Reserve officials said.
Gen. Conway’s ‘news’
Corps officials have been generally mum on details of the Iraqi troop rotation plan. But in a colorful letter written Dec. 11, Conway attempted to explain how Marines would be affected by the deployments, though he stopped short of providing a full listing of units.
“The good news is: Everybody loves Marines. The bad news is: Everybody loves Marines,” Conway wrote.
Corps officials are trying to manage Iraqi deployments to minimize the impacts on individual Marines. Unlike the Army, for example, which will deploy soldiers for 12 months at a time, the Corps will send most Marines to Iraq for seven months. And Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee has established “redlines” governing deployments, stating that Marines will be at home for at least as long as they previously were deployed.
That policy also stipulates that reservists who previously have been called to active duty and released will not be “remobilized.”
Under normal circumstances, four battalions participate in the UDP at any one time.
Elements of both Okinawa-bound battalions still are arriving in Japan and should all be there by the end of the month, according to a spokesman for 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton.
Although the Corps expects to redirect three-quarters of its forces normally deployed under the Unit Deployment Program to Iraq — about 3,000 Marines total — the UDP represents only about a third of the overall Marine presence in Okinawa.
In addition to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is permanently based there, a number of other III MEF units are assigned there. Should a mission present itself in the Pacific Command theater, McSweeney said the Corps would have it covered.
“There will be forces that remain in Okinawa, and the Marine Corps is capable of responding to any contingencies that arise,” he said.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-2496248.php
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
Units deploying to Japan can expect Iraq instead
By Gordon Lubold
Times staff writer
Most Marines scheduled to deploy to Japan for routine, six-month rotations in the coming year instead most likely will be headed to Iraq.
Three of four infantry battalions that normally would deploy to Okinawa under the Unit Deployment Program will be sent to support Operation Iraqi Freedom II, as the postwar operation in Iraq is called, a Marine spokesman said Dec. 19.
Two California-based battalions currently arriving in Okinawa for regular UDP rotations — 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, from Twentynine Palms and 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, from Camp Pendleton — have begun preparing to replace Army units leaving Iraq this spring.
The third battalion slated for deployment to Okinawa early next year — and now likely a contender for deployment to Iraq — is 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines, a Reserve unit based in Bridgeton, Mo.
“There are very strong indications that battalions previously scheduled to support the UDP will be redirected to support OIF II,” said Capt. Dan McSweeney, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon.
“Preliminary movement plans indicate that the two initial battalions will arrive in Okinawa and redeploy to Iraq,” McSweeney said.
The diversion will significantly reduce the number of Marines sent to Okinawa at least until March 2005. Under the UDP, Marine infantry units deploy to Pacific Command in Okinawa, typically for six months.
Details still are being worked out, and it is unclear when 3/4 and 1/5 would leave for Iraq, McSweeney said.
The move comes as Corps officials prepare to support the new mission in Iraq, slated to begin in March. Originally, the Corps was asked to send six battalions for occupation duty during the course of the Corps’ 12-month mission there. But officials announced Nov. 6 that three more battalions would be required to get the job done.
The bulk of the Marines slated for duty in Iraq will come from I Marine Expeditionary Force. Lt. Gen. James Conway, commanding general of I MEF, was expected to announce the specific units that will go shortly after Christmas.
Marine Forces Reserve has announced the final list of Reserve units slated to go to Iraq beginning in March. A detachment from 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company and some Marine aviation logistics squadrons that had been slated to go in June will now be deploying for Iraq in early spring, Reserve officials said.
Gen. Conway’s ‘news’
Corps officials have been generally mum on details of the Iraqi troop rotation plan. But in a colorful letter written Dec. 11, Conway attempted to explain how Marines would be affected by the deployments, though he stopped short of providing a full listing of units.
“The good news is: Everybody loves Marines. The bad news is: Everybody loves Marines,” Conway wrote.
Corps officials are trying to manage Iraqi deployments to minimize the impacts on individual Marines. Unlike the Army, for example, which will deploy soldiers for 12 months at a time, the Corps will send most Marines to Iraq for seven months. And Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee has established “redlines” governing deployments, stating that Marines will be at home for at least as long as they previously were deployed.
That policy also stipulates that reservists who previously have been called to active duty and released will not be “remobilized.”
Under normal circumstances, four battalions participate in the UDP at any one time.
Elements of both Okinawa-bound battalions still are arriving in Japan and should all be there by the end of the month, according to a spokesman for 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton.
Although the Corps expects to redirect three-quarters of its forces normally deployed under the Unit Deployment Program to Iraq — about 3,000 Marines total — the UDP represents only about a third of the overall Marine presence in Okinawa.
In addition to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is permanently based there, a number of other III MEF units are assigned there. Should a mission present itself in the Pacific Command theater, McSweeney said the Corps would have it covered.
“There will be forces that remain in Okinawa, and the Marine Corps is capable of responding to any contingencies that arise,” he said.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-2496248.php
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: