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thedrifter
02-25-04, 11:00 AM
February 24, 2004

Unit will deploy to Afghanistan

By C. Mark Brinkley
Times staff writer


CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - About 250 Marines from 6th Marine Regiment’s command element here are deploying to Afghanistan to provide command and control for U.S. and coalition units supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, base officials announced.
“We anticipate our Marines and sailors to deploy throughout the week,” said Capt. Teresa Ovalle, a Camp Lejeune spokeswoman, said Feb. 24. “They don’t have set dates or times yet.”

Base officials said the deployment would likely be a six-month rotation. The identity of the unit being replaced was not immediately available.

The group will provide oversight for many units and agencies, including Marines from 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, which deployed to Afghanistan from Camp Lejeune late last year.

“We will provide command and control for a number of coalition infantry units and Provincial Reconstruction Teams,” Ovalle said. “Provincial Reconstruction Teams focus on identifying and supporting the various needs of villages and communities. This support can come in the form of medical or construction projects in outlying areas of Afghanistan.”

C. Mark Brinkley is the Jacksonville, N.C., bureau chief for Marine Corps Times. He can be reached at (910) 455-8354.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-292925-2672593.php


Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

thedrifter
02-29-04, 09:03 AM
More Lejeune troops Afghan bound
February 28,2004
ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF

More Camp Lejeune troops are bound for Afghanistan to join the hunt for terrorist Osama bin Laden.

Camp Lejeune officials confirmed Friday that about 250 troops from the 2nd Marine Division left for Afghanistan this week as part of a spring offensive announced by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Headquarters elements of the 6th Marine Regiment are scheduled to provide command and control for various operating forces and agencies in Afghanistan that will include Camp Lejeune's 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, better known as 2/8.

"They are prepared to conduct whatever mission they are tasked," said Camp Lejeune spokesman 1st Lt. Christopher "Cam" Wilson.

When 2/8 deployed in November, it joined other troops elsewhere in the region.

Those other troops include about 100 Marines and sailors from Camp Lejeune's antiterrorist 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, which is protecting U.S. State Department interests in Kabul and about 230 reservists with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773, of Marietta, Ga., and New Orleans, who were in place with their AH-1W Super Cobra gunships and UH-1 Huey helicopters.

Just last week, Camp Lejeune's 2,200-person 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit left the East Coast also bound for Afghanistan and a spring military offensive, said II Marine Expeditionary Force commander Lt. Gen. Henry P. "Pete" Osman.

"The 22nd MEU left (Feb. 19) and they are going directly into (the Central Command) theater," Osman said at a ceremony activating the 24th MEU.

"They are going into harm's way as part of an offensive support effort this spring. They're looking at Afghanistan."

The 22nd MEU public affairs office reported the unit's general location Thursday about two-thirds of the way across the Atlantic Ocean bound for the Mediterranean Sea.

But unit spokesmen could not be reached for comment on the 22nd MEU's latest status amid speculation that it might be turned around for an operation in Haiti, one of several options that U.S. planners have for East Coast Marines.

The unit's original destination, the area along the Afghan-Pakistani border, came under increased scrutiny last summer amid reports that bin Laden and possibly other high-ranking al-Qaida terrorist leaders believed responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have been restricted to an area of about 35 miles by 35 miles.

Two men working for the Central Intelligence Agency were killed in an ambush Oct. 25 as they were tracking terrorists in the region of Shkin, Afghanistan.

The 22nd MEU includes reinforced versions of 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, and Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 266.

It also includes MEU Service Support Group 22 and a command element led by Col. Kenneth Frank McKenzie Jr.

All four elements are aboard amphibious assault ships USS Wasp, USS Shreveport and USS Whidbey Island.

The 22nd MEU has joined forces with Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruisers USS Yorktown and USS Leyte Gulf, Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul and Seawolf class nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Connecticut.


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

http://www.jacksonvilledailynews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=20569&Section=News


Sempers,

Roger
:marine: