fontman
08-08-06, 10:42 AM
23,000 Marines prepare to deploy; troop levels in Baghdad may grow by 5,000
By John Hoellwarth
Staff writer
If you're not wearing a dog tag around your neck and another in the laces of your left boot, then get that way.
About 23,000 Marines will stuff black socks and baby wipes into their seabags next month when the Corps sends members of more than 50 East and West Coast units to Iraq for the second half of I Marine Expeditionary Force's yearlong mission there.
The units tapped for the Corps' next major muscle movement are slated to stay in the country through March, when I MEF is expected to hand the mission to its East Coast counterpart, the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based II MEF. No units are expected to have their deployments extended, according to Capt. Jay Delarosa, spokesman for the Corps' Plans, Policies and Operations Department.
Although II MEF's guidon will stay in North Carolina until next year, many of its subordinate units, as well as units from the Okinawa, Japan-based III MEF and Marine Forces Reserve, are on the deployment list and will fall under the operational control of I MEF in Iraq.
Maj. Curtis Hill, spokesman for II MEF, said the East Coast units going forward are "well-trained," "well-led" and "bring with them a multitude of capabilities."
Reserve Marines will make a showing, as well. Leathernecks from 1st and 3rd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison companies, as well as 4th Civil Affairs Group, will be activated to augment I MEF's command element in Iraq. Also, the Reserve cannon-cockers of 3rd Battalion, 14th Marines, will leave the howitzers at home during their first battalion-wide deployment. While in country, they'll serve as a provisional military police unit, according to Maj. William Hooper, officer in charge of the battalion's peacetime/wartime support team.
The battalion will "perform a range of duties, to include force protection, detainee operations and police training teams," Hooper said. "They've been training towards this mobilization and deployment for the last year or more."
Marine operations in Iraq over the last year have been largely concentrated in the country's restive Anbar province, where Marine grunts have been getting most of their trigger time. Although the upcoming rotation will bring 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, to Anbar for the first time, the unit logged an Operation Enduring Freedom deployment to Afghanistan before the Corps declared its mission there complete this year.
Battalion executive officer Maj. Keven Matthews said 2/3 is at the end of "a very intense six-month, pre-deployment training program," and his Marines are "ready to win" despite the increasingly complicated situation in Iraq.
"Their zeal to 'get some' is tempered by a realization that we are at the point of the counterinsurgency campaign where a Marine's action can impact the strategic level of war," he said. "Each Marine knows that to win we will take not only aggressive tactical action, but we must also develop the Iraqi security forces, improve the capacity of local governance and improve the lives of the Iraqis in our [area of operations]."
The scheduled rotations come as senior commanders warn of increasingly difficult days ahead in Iraq. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Aug. 3, the head of U.S. Central Command, Army Gen. John Abizaid, said, "Iraq could move toward civil war" unless U.S. and Iraqi forces can contain rising sectarian violence between the country's Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Baghdad, according to an Associated Press report. "It's clear that the operational and the tactical situation in Baghdad is such that it requires additional security forces, both U.S. and Iraqi," Abizaid said.
As Marines gear up for their deployments, Pentagon officials are finalizing a plan to send up to 5,000 more soldiers and Marines into Baghdad, though Multi-National Forces-Iraq spokesman Army Lt. Col. Barry Johnson would not comment on which Marine units might wind up there.
"We are not going to discuss plans in theater for troop utilization in operations, their movements, etc., until all the pieces are in place," he wrote in an e-mail response to questions.
The marines who will go:
The second major wave of Iraq unit rotations under I Marine Expeditionary Force begins next month. The force includes:
I MEF (Forward) command element
MEF Headquarters Group (Reinforced)
Elements of 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion
Elements of 9th Communications Battalion
2nd Intelligence Battalion
2nd Radio Battalion
2nd Force Reconnaissance Company
1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company
Elements of 3rd ANGLICO
4th Civil Affairs Group
3rd Battalion, 14th Marines (provisional military police battalion)
Ground combat element
Regimental Combat Teams 5 and 7
2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines
3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines
1st Battalion, 24th Marines
3rd Battalion, 4th Marines
1st Battalion, 6th Marines
2nd Battalion, 8th Marines
Elements of 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion
Elements of 1st and 2nd Tank Battalion
Elements of 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion
Elements of 2nd and 4th Combat Engineer Battalion
Elements of 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines
Elements of 2nd Battalion, 10th Marines
Air combat element
3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward)
Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 3
Marine Aircraft Group 16
Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 364
Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465
HMH-363 (CH-53D)
Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 167
HMLA-214
Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242
Marine Attack Squadron 214
Elements of Marine Aerial Refueler- Transport Squadrons 252 and 352
Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 16
Marine Wing Support Group 37
Marine Wing Support Squadron 273
MWSS-373
Marine Air Control Group 38
Marine Wing Communications Squadron 38
Marine Air Support Squadron 3
Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 1
Combat service support element
1st Marine Logistics Group (Forward)
Elements of Headquarters and Service Battalion
Combat Logistics Battalion 5
CLB-7
Combat Logistics Regiment 15
Elements of Engineering Support Battalion, Maintenance Battalion, 1st Medical Battalion and 1st Support Battalion
By John Hoellwarth
Staff writer
If you're not wearing a dog tag around your neck and another in the laces of your left boot, then get that way.
About 23,000 Marines will stuff black socks and baby wipes into their seabags next month when the Corps sends members of more than 50 East and West Coast units to Iraq for the second half of I Marine Expeditionary Force's yearlong mission there.
The units tapped for the Corps' next major muscle movement are slated to stay in the country through March, when I MEF is expected to hand the mission to its East Coast counterpart, the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based II MEF. No units are expected to have their deployments extended, according to Capt. Jay Delarosa, spokesman for the Corps' Plans, Policies and Operations Department.
Although II MEF's guidon will stay in North Carolina until next year, many of its subordinate units, as well as units from the Okinawa, Japan-based III MEF and Marine Forces Reserve, are on the deployment list and will fall under the operational control of I MEF in Iraq.
Maj. Curtis Hill, spokesman for II MEF, said the East Coast units going forward are "well-trained," "well-led" and "bring with them a multitude of capabilities."
Reserve Marines will make a showing, as well. Leathernecks from 1st and 3rd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison companies, as well as 4th Civil Affairs Group, will be activated to augment I MEF's command element in Iraq. Also, the Reserve cannon-cockers of 3rd Battalion, 14th Marines, will leave the howitzers at home during their first battalion-wide deployment. While in country, they'll serve as a provisional military police unit, according to Maj. William Hooper, officer in charge of the battalion's peacetime/wartime support team.
The battalion will "perform a range of duties, to include force protection, detainee operations and police training teams," Hooper said. "They've been training towards this mobilization and deployment for the last year or more."
Marine operations in Iraq over the last year have been largely concentrated in the country's restive Anbar province, where Marine grunts have been getting most of their trigger time. Although the upcoming rotation will bring 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, to Anbar for the first time, the unit logged an Operation Enduring Freedom deployment to Afghanistan before the Corps declared its mission there complete this year.
Battalion executive officer Maj. Keven Matthews said 2/3 is at the end of "a very intense six-month, pre-deployment training program," and his Marines are "ready to win" despite the increasingly complicated situation in Iraq.
"Their zeal to 'get some' is tempered by a realization that we are at the point of the counterinsurgency campaign where a Marine's action can impact the strategic level of war," he said. "Each Marine knows that to win we will take not only aggressive tactical action, but we must also develop the Iraqi security forces, improve the capacity of local governance and improve the lives of the Iraqis in our [area of operations]."
The scheduled rotations come as senior commanders warn of increasingly difficult days ahead in Iraq. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Aug. 3, the head of U.S. Central Command, Army Gen. John Abizaid, said, "Iraq could move toward civil war" unless U.S. and Iraqi forces can contain rising sectarian violence between the country's Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Baghdad, according to an Associated Press report. "It's clear that the operational and the tactical situation in Baghdad is such that it requires additional security forces, both U.S. and Iraqi," Abizaid said.
As Marines gear up for their deployments, Pentagon officials are finalizing a plan to send up to 5,000 more soldiers and Marines into Baghdad, though Multi-National Forces-Iraq spokesman Army Lt. Col. Barry Johnson would not comment on which Marine units might wind up there.
"We are not going to discuss plans in theater for troop utilization in operations, their movements, etc., until all the pieces are in place," he wrote in an e-mail response to questions.
The marines who will go:
The second major wave of Iraq unit rotations under I Marine Expeditionary Force begins next month. The force includes:
I MEF (Forward) command element
MEF Headquarters Group (Reinforced)
Elements of 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion
Elements of 9th Communications Battalion
2nd Intelligence Battalion
2nd Radio Battalion
2nd Force Reconnaissance Company
1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company
Elements of 3rd ANGLICO
4th Civil Affairs Group
3rd Battalion, 14th Marines (provisional military police battalion)
Ground combat element
Regimental Combat Teams 5 and 7
2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines
3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines
1st Battalion, 24th Marines
3rd Battalion, 4th Marines
1st Battalion, 6th Marines
2nd Battalion, 8th Marines
Elements of 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion
Elements of 1st and 2nd Tank Battalion
Elements of 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion
Elements of 2nd and 4th Combat Engineer Battalion
Elements of 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines
Elements of 2nd Battalion, 10th Marines
Air combat element
3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward)
Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 3
Marine Aircraft Group 16
Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 364
Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465
HMH-363 (CH-53D)
Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 167
HMLA-214
Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242
Marine Attack Squadron 214
Elements of Marine Aerial Refueler- Transport Squadrons 252 and 352
Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 16
Marine Wing Support Group 37
Marine Wing Support Squadron 273
MWSS-373
Marine Air Control Group 38
Marine Wing Communications Squadron 38
Marine Air Support Squadron 3
Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 1
Combat service support element
1st Marine Logistics Group (Forward)
Elements of Headquarters and Service Battalion
Combat Logistics Battalion 5
CLB-7
Combat Logistics Regiment 15
Elements of Engineering Support Battalion, Maintenance Battalion, 1st Medical Battalion and 1st Support Battalion