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thedrifter
01-08-04, 09:23 AM
January 07, 2004

Bataan, Boxer to carry Marines to Middle East within next two weeks

By William H. McMichael
Times staff writer

Two amphibious assault ships — one from San Diego, one from Norfolk, Va. — will deploy within the next two weeks to carry Marines and combat gear to the Middle East, Navy sources said Wednesday.
The San Diego-based Boxer and the Norfolk-based Bataan will carry “a very small number of Marines” and larger amounts of combat gear to the Persian Gulf region, according to Paul Taylor, a spokesman for the Navy’s Commander, Fleet Forces Command. The two ships will travel unaccompanied, Taylor said.

The Boxer is scheduled to get underway Jan. 14; Taylor, citing security concerns, could not provide the Bataan’s deployment date but said it will leave Norfolk “in more than a week.”

Taylor could not provide details on the Marine units involved, their specific mission or for whom the equipment is meant; Capt. Dan McSweeney of Marine Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C., said the deployment order for the Marines involved has not yet been released.

A total of 50,000 Marines and 6,500 Marine Reservists are slated to deploy to Iraq beginning in March, with about half taking part in each of two seven-month rotations, officials say; those Marines will relieve units of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, which has been conducting security and stability operations west of Baghdad as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Navy is sending assault ships instead of supply ships because, Taylor said, there are no special requirements for packing and storing the equipment that’s being transported, as would be the case on a Military Sealift Command ship. This way, he said, the Marines “can immediately begin using their gear” as soon as it arrives.

Taylor said the current at-sea threat will allow the ships to travel unescorted and without their Marine Harrier jump jets. Once near the Persian Gulf, he said, the two ships will enjoy the protection of allied naval forces already in the region.

William H. McMichael is Hampton Roads, Va., bureau chief for Navy Times. Reach him at (757) 223-0096 .

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-292925-2535317.php


Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

thedrifter
01-09-04, 01:41 PM
S.D. ship to ferry copters, Marines to Iraq




More vessels slated to take gear to gulf

By James W. Crawley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

January 8, 2004

The amphibious assault ship Boxer will be dispatched next week to Iraq, delivering 16 Marine Corps heavy-lift helicopters and more than 200 Marines, the Navy said yesterday.

The helicopters will be flown aboard the 840-foot-long ship today and Friday as the vessel makes final preparations for its departure Wednesday.

Also, in coming weeks, several military cargo ships will be loaded in San Diego with additional Marine Corps equipment, including Humvees, trucks and armored vehicles, for shipment to Iraq.

The embarkations mark the first large-scale movements of personnel and materiel associated with this spring's deployment to Iraq of up to 25,000 Marines, mostly from Camp Pendleton and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

The Marine units, along with a smaller Army contingent, will replace the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, which has occupied parts of western Iraq, including the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi – centers of the anti-U.S. insurgency.

The Boxer's departure will come nearly a year after it departed for the Persian Gulf on Jan. 17, 2003, with six other ships loaded with Marines, sailors, aircraft, tanks and weapons. The embarked Marines and sailors provided key elements in the Marines' march to Baghdad during the war.

The ship, with a crew of 900 sailors and based at San Diego Naval Station at 32nd Street, returned July 27.

The Boxer, which will be unaccompanied, probably will return in late April after delivering the aircraft and equipment, according to a Navy statement.

Although built to carry nearly 1,000 Marines, aircraft and their equipment, disgorging them via helicopter and landing craft, the Boxer will carry only 16 CH-53 Super Stallion helicopters, two Navy CH-46 copters, three Navy hovercraft and the Marines needed to maintain and fly the aircraft during the anticipated monthlong transit.

The Marine helicopters will be from Miramar's Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron HMH-466. The Navy helicopters, used primarily for search-and-rescue operations, are based with Combat Support Squadron HC-11 at North Island Naval Air Station. The hovercraft are assigned to Assault Craft Unit 5 at Camp Pendleton.

On the East Coast, another amphibious ship similarly loaded with military equipment is expected to depart during the next month for Iraq.

Most of the Marines scheduled to deploy will be flown from Southern California to the region via military and commercial transports. When they arrive, they will receive vehicles and equipment that have arrived via ship from the United States or were stored aboard pre-positioned cargo vessels.

Because of size and weight and the limited number of large military transport jets available, 90 percent of all war materiel is carried by sea, logistics specialists said.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James W. Crawley:
(619) 542-4559; jim.crawley@uniontrib.com


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20040108-9999_2m8boxer.html


Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

thedrifter
01-09-04, 01:42 PM
Marines heading to Iraq
January 09,2004
ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF

About 5,000 area Marines and sailors will join nearly 20,000 of their West Coast counterparts by March for operations in post-war Iraq.

Members of II Marine Expeditionary Force's 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Force Service Support Group and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing will augment forces from Camp Pendleton's I MEF from California, according to a report from Camp Lejeune.

Members of 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment from Camp Lejeune and Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 261 and Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 176 from New River Air Station are among the major units getting ready to deploy, base officials said.

"We can't pin down exact dates and numbers of people due to operational security," said Camp Lejeune spokeswoman Capt. Teresa Ovalle.

In a response to a Daily News query, officials confirmed that among those deploying would be elements of:

n II MEF Headquarters' 8th Communication Battalion and 2nd Intelligence Battalion.

n 2nd Marine Division's Delta Company, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and Communications Company, Headquarters and Services Battalion

n 2nd Force Service Support Group's 2nd Military Police Battalion.

n Transportation Company, 2nd Transportation Support Battalion

n Ordnance Maintenance Company and Electronic Maintenance Company, 2nd Maintenance Battalion.

Camp Lejeune spokesman Sgt. Spencer Harris added that elements of Ammunition Company, 2nd Supply Battalion; Alpha Surgical Company and Bravo Surgical Company of 2nd Medical Battalion; Alpha Company, Bridge Company and Bulk Fuel Company of 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd FSSG are also scheduled to deploy.

Members of HMM-261 and HMLA-176 will participate in exercise Desert Talon in Yuma, Ariz., for the next two weeks as a training opportunity to prepare for their deployment overseas, New River Air Station spokeswoman Cpl. Theresa Seng.

Elements of Marine Wing Support Squadron 272 will augment MWSS-273 from Beaufort Air Station, S.C., Seng said.

"There are about 700 Marines and sailors from New River Air Station," she said.

Those troops are among 1,600 service members deploying with II Marine Aircraft Wing, headquartered at Cherry Point Air Station in Havelock.

Other major II MAW units to deploy, in addition to those based at New River, are Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 2 along with detachments from 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion, Marine Air Control Squadron 2 , Marine Air Support Squadron 1, Cherry Point Air Station reported.

This first 25,000-member Marine rotation from March to September is scheduled to be relieved by another Marine force of the same size from September to March 2005.

The units are under strict security to protect them as they prepare and deploy to relieve members of Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division near Baghdad by this March.


Contact Eric Steinkopff at esteinkopff@jdnews.com or 353-1171, Ext. 236.


http://www.jacksonvilledailynews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=19259&Section=News

Sempers,

Roger
:marine: