thedrifter
06-13-06, 01:27 PM
June 19, 2006
Flexibility is key as 24th MEU deploys
By William H. McMichael
Times staff writer
NORFOLK NAVAL STATION, Va. — The amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima left Norfolk on June 6 with the possibility of bringing humanitarian assistance to a third-world country.
At the end of last summer, Iwo Jima did essentially the same mission domestically, in Mississippi and Louisiana, where thousands were left homeless, hungry and vulnerable following the devastation from Hurricane Katrina.
The sailors involved learned valuable lessons for this new deployment, said Capt. Sinclair Harris, commodore of Amphibious Squadron 4 and the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group.
“The sailors that were a part of that [gained] the ability to handle a lot of the emotional impact that comes with the devastation,” Harris said. “When we got to Biloxi [Miss.] beach, it looked like a war zone. Most of us had never seen that much devastation right there in front of us.”
In hindsight, it was perfect training for the six-month road that lies ahead.
Humanitarian assistance in some of East Africa’s impoverished nations is but one potential mission facing the Iwo Jima, its ESG and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which left the U.S. East Coast en route to the Mediterranean and, if recent ESG history is any guide, the Horn of Africa.
The 6,000 sailors and Marines in the ESG and MEU face a variety of other missions, however, with possibilities in the Mediterranean or Red Sea as well as the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf.
The 24th MEU, beginning its fourth deployment since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has no specific mission orders as yet but could find itself fighting in Iraq, said Col. Ron Johnson, the unit’s commanding officer. The 22nd MEU, sailing with the Nassau ESG, operated more than two months in Iraq but also spent time training with Djibouti soldiers before returning home in early May.
In addition to getting the Marines where they need to go — on its last deployment, Iwo Jima inserted a 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, quick-reaction force into war-torn Liberia on a peacekeeping mission — the ESG will likely work at intercepting at-sea pirate or terrorist targets. Or elements of the ESG might find themselves helping to train the Iraqi navy or providing technical or medical aid to a stranded mariner or the crew of a sinking ship.
“It all depends on what’s happening in the theater,” Harris said June 5, adding he’d learned of a new mission — which he couldn’t disclose — that very morning.
“Flexibility is a key,” Johnson said. “Being able to adapt to the different environments, whether that be in Africa, the mountains of Afghanistan or in the deserts of Iraq.”
One of the difficulties for anyone operating in the Middle East is determining where terrorist threats might be — and doing so while sifting through the maze of data that modern technology provides.
“The targets are kind of hard to figure out,” said Lt. Cmdr. Josh Hansen, an ESG cryptologist on Iwo Jima. “The volume of information that we’re dealing with has gotten so large that it’s difficult to find the pieces that mean something.”
He called the ESG “very capable” in intelligence collection and said he felt the group’s efforts would be successful.
William H. McMichael covers the Navy.
Ellie
Flexibility is key as 24th MEU deploys
By William H. McMichael
Times staff writer
NORFOLK NAVAL STATION, Va. — The amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima left Norfolk on June 6 with the possibility of bringing humanitarian assistance to a third-world country.
At the end of last summer, Iwo Jima did essentially the same mission domestically, in Mississippi and Louisiana, where thousands were left homeless, hungry and vulnerable following the devastation from Hurricane Katrina.
The sailors involved learned valuable lessons for this new deployment, said Capt. Sinclair Harris, commodore of Amphibious Squadron 4 and the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group.
“The sailors that were a part of that [gained] the ability to handle a lot of the emotional impact that comes with the devastation,” Harris said. “When we got to Biloxi [Miss.] beach, it looked like a war zone. Most of us had never seen that much devastation right there in front of us.”
In hindsight, it was perfect training for the six-month road that lies ahead.
Humanitarian assistance in some of East Africa’s impoverished nations is but one potential mission facing the Iwo Jima, its ESG and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which left the U.S. East Coast en route to the Mediterranean and, if recent ESG history is any guide, the Horn of Africa.
The 6,000 sailors and Marines in the ESG and MEU face a variety of other missions, however, with possibilities in the Mediterranean or Red Sea as well as the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf.
The 24th MEU, beginning its fourth deployment since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has no specific mission orders as yet but could find itself fighting in Iraq, said Col. Ron Johnson, the unit’s commanding officer. The 22nd MEU, sailing with the Nassau ESG, operated more than two months in Iraq but also spent time training with Djibouti soldiers before returning home in early May.
In addition to getting the Marines where they need to go — on its last deployment, Iwo Jima inserted a 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, quick-reaction force into war-torn Liberia on a peacekeeping mission — the ESG will likely work at intercepting at-sea pirate or terrorist targets. Or elements of the ESG might find themselves helping to train the Iraqi navy or providing technical or medical aid to a stranded mariner or the crew of a sinking ship.
“It all depends on what’s happening in the theater,” Harris said June 5, adding he’d learned of a new mission — which he couldn’t disclose — that very morning.
“Flexibility is a key,” Johnson said. “Being able to adapt to the different environments, whether that be in Africa, the mountains of Afghanistan or in the deserts of Iraq.”
One of the difficulties for anyone operating in the Middle East is determining where terrorist threats might be — and doing so while sifting through the maze of data that modern technology provides.
“The targets are kind of hard to figure out,” said Lt. Cmdr. Josh Hansen, an ESG cryptologist on Iwo Jima. “The volume of information that we’re dealing with has gotten so large that it’s difficult to find the pieces that mean something.”
He called the ESG “very capable” in intelligence collection and said he felt the group’s efforts would be successful.
William H. McMichael covers the Navy.
Ellie