thedrifter
01-12-07, 04:35 AM
Local Marines not part of Iraq strategy -- yet
Surge of troops not expected to significantly affect deployment for Marines living in Beaufort
Published Friday January 12 2007
By LORI YOUNT
The Beaufort Gazette
Beaufort-based Marines and sailors already in Iraq won't have their deployments extended, as will 4,000 other Marines in mostly infantry units as part of the "surge" of troops announced by President Bush on Wednesday, according to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort officials.
No East Coast Marine aviation units face extended deployments at the moment, base spokeswoman Capt. Sarah Kansteiner said Thursday.
One Beaufort-based squadron, Marine Wing Support Squadron 273, is on a seven-month deployment at Camp Al Asad in Iraq's Al Anbar region. The squadron, with about 400 Marines and sailors, left in early September.
For now, Kansteiner said air station officials don't expect an increase in the deployment tempo of service members in Marine Aircraft Group 31, which is made up of about 2,500 Marines and sailors as part of seven F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet squadrons and one Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron.
"We do not anticipate our deployment-to-dwell ratio to be significantly affected by the President's new strategy in Iraq," she said in an e-mail, referring to the amount of time Marines stay at home between deployments.
Bush called for about 20,000 more troops to be sent to Iraq when he addressed the nation on television Wednesday.
It is too early to tell how the increase in troops will affect Naval Hospital Beaufort, which has suffered staff shortages due to deployments of Navy doctors, nurses and corpsmen to Iraq, spokeswoman Patricia Binns said.
Beaufort Marines and sailors at the air station and Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island also had a chance Wednesday to discuss their futures with the Marine Corps' new commandant, or top officer, Gen. James T. Conway.
Since being named commandant in November, Conway has traveled to bases nationwide to hold town hall meetings to discuss his plans for the Corps and hear feedback from Marines. Usually local media are invited to attend the event, but since his visit to Beaufort was just hours before the president's speech, media members weren't allowed to attend to make sure any "candid" discussion with the Marines wasn't misconstrued as contradicting the president, Conway's spokesman Lt. Col. T.V. Johnson said.
Air station Marines posed questions and offered suggestions on Corps programs, such as child care, housing for enlisted Marines and government travel compensation, Kansteiner said.
In publications, Conway has outlined his goals for the Corps, including to ensure Marines and sailors get enough time at home after a deployment, to improve services for families and single Marines and to continue with a plan to increase the Corps' standing force by 5,000.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Thursday he wanted the Marine Corps, with a current strength of 175,000 Marines, to add 27,000 more people over five years.
Any details about how plans to increase the Corps' numbers would affect the operations of Parris Island, which trains male recruits who come from east of the Mississippi River and all female recruits, or the Eastern Recruiting Region based at Parris Island "would be merely speculative," base spokesman Maj. Guillermo Canedo said Wednesday.
Ellie
Surge of troops not expected to significantly affect deployment for Marines living in Beaufort
Published Friday January 12 2007
By LORI YOUNT
The Beaufort Gazette
Beaufort-based Marines and sailors already in Iraq won't have their deployments extended, as will 4,000 other Marines in mostly infantry units as part of the "surge" of troops announced by President Bush on Wednesday, according to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort officials.
No East Coast Marine aviation units face extended deployments at the moment, base spokeswoman Capt. Sarah Kansteiner said Thursday.
One Beaufort-based squadron, Marine Wing Support Squadron 273, is on a seven-month deployment at Camp Al Asad in Iraq's Al Anbar region. The squadron, with about 400 Marines and sailors, left in early September.
For now, Kansteiner said air station officials don't expect an increase in the deployment tempo of service members in Marine Aircraft Group 31, which is made up of about 2,500 Marines and sailors as part of seven F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet squadrons and one Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron.
"We do not anticipate our deployment-to-dwell ratio to be significantly affected by the President's new strategy in Iraq," she said in an e-mail, referring to the amount of time Marines stay at home between deployments.
Bush called for about 20,000 more troops to be sent to Iraq when he addressed the nation on television Wednesday.
It is too early to tell how the increase in troops will affect Naval Hospital Beaufort, which has suffered staff shortages due to deployments of Navy doctors, nurses and corpsmen to Iraq, spokeswoman Patricia Binns said.
Beaufort Marines and sailors at the air station and Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island also had a chance Wednesday to discuss their futures with the Marine Corps' new commandant, or top officer, Gen. James T. Conway.
Since being named commandant in November, Conway has traveled to bases nationwide to hold town hall meetings to discuss his plans for the Corps and hear feedback from Marines. Usually local media are invited to attend the event, but since his visit to Beaufort was just hours before the president's speech, media members weren't allowed to attend to make sure any "candid" discussion with the Marines wasn't misconstrued as contradicting the president, Conway's spokesman Lt. Col. T.V. Johnson said.
Air station Marines posed questions and offered suggestions on Corps programs, such as child care, housing for enlisted Marines and government travel compensation, Kansteiner said.
In publications, Conway has outlined his goals for the Corps, including to ensure Marines and sailors get enough time at home after a deployment, to improve services for families and single Marines and to continue with a plan to increase the Corps' standing force by 5,000.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Thursday he wanted the Marine Corps, with a current strength of 175,000 Marines, to add 27,000 more people over five years.
Any details about how plans to increase the Corps' numbers would affect the operations of Parris Island, which trains male recruits who come from east of the Mississippi River and all female recruits, or the Eastern Recruiting Region based at Parris Island "would be merely speculative," base spokesman Maj. Guillermo Canedo said Wednesday.
Ellie