thedrifter
02-20-03, 07:28 AM
02/19/2003
By PETER WILLIAMS
FREEDOM ENC
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a two-part series stemming from an interview in Kuwait with Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert, commander of 2nd Force Service Support Group from Camp Lejeune.
CAMP FOX, Kuwait — The movement of equipment to supply Marines in Kuwait is probably the largest of its kind in history, Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert said Tuesday.
Lehnert was at the isolated desert base Tuesday to address his staff and praise those responsible for getting the camp ready and unloading the ships.
While Marines always boast they are ready to fight when called upon, even Lehnert said he wondered if perhaps the timetable for the gigantic shift of floating armory was perhaps too optimistic.
“The first thing we started with was the off-load of the Marine propositioning ships. It is very likely the largest MPS off-load conducted in history. During Desert Storm, we did an off-load but the ships didn’t have as much in them,” Lehnert said.
“The key thing is as a Marine Corps, we advertise that these things would be done in a certain period of time,” he said. “To be very candid with you, I always had concerns as to whether our advertisement was going to be able to meet up with the actual billing. But if you look at those 11 ships over the course of time we off-loaded them, we actually off-loaded every ship faster then we said we could, and the aggregate amount of time we saved was six days.
“If somebody had told me beforehand that this is what we were going to do, I would have told them that they were stark-raving mad. And yet somehow we did that safely,” Lehnert said.
The ships carry everything from tanks to water and food, providing what a Marine ground force needs to fight. Some of the gear has been floating around as a permanent and immediate resource. Other ships were loaded in North Carolina and steamed to Kuwait.
For the most part, Marines and sailors from Lejeune flew to Kuwait with just the bare essentials. They had packed up their equipment weeks ago to be sent over on ships.
While security concerns keep the Marine Corps from saying how many members of 2nd Force Service Support Group are in Kuwait, previous statements indicated that 4,000 FSSG troops would be leaving Lejeune.
“The biggest challenge we had was moving containers,” Lehnert said. “We moved over 5,000 containers and we moved them an average of about 50 miles, but most of them moved 74 miles one way. They were big, they were heavy and of course we had to compete with everything else that has to move on the roads. It was just an absolutely extraordinary performance on the part of some very, very good young men and women and I am just in awe of them.”
The largest Marine command in the theater is 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, or I MEF, from California. It includes both the 1st Marine Division and 1st FSSG. Second FSSG from Camp Lejeune serves as Marine Logistics Command.
“Marine Logistics Command was created for the purpose of filling what we perceived as a void,” Lehnert said. “The 1st FSSG is providing retail logistics for the MEF, and I am the wholesale provider. That’s an easy way for people to understand. They are dealing in individual units and I am dealing in very gross, large quantities to get to them. That was the piece that was missing, and it had to be created once we got in theater during the Gulf War.
“The next step is to continue to build up combat power,” Lehnert said. “We will get all the equipment here and at this location and then proceed to train. We’re training now, and we’re going to continue to train and be ready for whatever our president and our secretary of defense may ask us to do.”
continued...........
By PETER WILLIAMS
FREEDOM ENC
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a two-part series stemming from an interview in Kuwait with Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert, commander of 2nd Force Service Support Group from Camp Lejeune.
CAMP FOX, Kuwait — The movement of equipment to supply Marines in Kuwait is probably the largest of its kind in history, Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert said Tuesday.
Lehnert was at the isolated desert base Tuesday to address his staff and praise those responsible for getting the camp ready and unloading the ships.
While Marines always boast they are ready to fight when called upon, even Lehnert said he wondered if perhaps the timetable for the gigantic shift of floating armory was perhaps too optimistic.
“The first thing we started with was the off-load of the Marine propositioning ships. It is very likely the largest MPS off-load conducted in history. During Desert Storm, we did an off-load but the ships didn’t have as much in them,” Lehnert said.
“The key thing is as a Marine Corps, we advertise that these things would be done in a certain period of time,” he said. “To be very candid with you, I always had concerns as to whether our advertisement was going to be able to meet up with the actual billing. But if you look at those 11 ships over the course of time we off-loaded them, we actually off-loaded every ship faster then we said we could, and the aggregate amount of time we saved was six days.
“If somebody had told me beforehand that this is what we were going to do, I would have told them that they were stark-raving mad. And yet somehow we did that safely,” Lehnert said.
The ships carry everything from tanks to water and food, providing what a Marine ground force needs to fight. Some of the gear has been floating around as a permanent and immediate resource. Other ships were loaded in North Carolina and steamed to Kuwait.
For the most part, Marines and sailors from Lejeune flew to Kuwait with just the bare essentials. They had packed up their equipment weeks ago to be sent over on ships.
While security concerns keep the Marine Corps from saying how many members of 2nd Force Service Support Group are in Kuwait, previous statements indicated that 4,000 FSSG troops would be leaving Lejeune.
“The biggest challenge we had was moving containers,” Lehnert said. “We moved over 5,000 containers and we moved them an average of about 50 miles, but most of them moved 74 miles one way. They were big, they were heavy and of course we had to compete with everything else that has to move on the roads. It was just an absolutely extraordinary performance on the part of some very, very good young men and women and I am just in awe of them.”
The largest Marine command in the theater is 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, or I MEF, from California. It includes both the 1st Marine Division and 1st FSSG. Second FSSG from Camp Lejeune serves as Marine Logistics Command.
“Marine Logistics Command was created for the purpose of filling what we perceived as a void,” Lehnert said. “The 1st FSSG is providing retail logistics for the MEF, and I am the wholesale provider. That’s an easy way for people to understand. They are dealing in individual units and I am dealing in very gross, large quantities to get to them. That was the piece that was missing, and it had to be created once we got in theater during the Gulf War.
“The next step is to continue to build up combat power,” Lehnert said. “We will get all the equipment here and at this location and then proceed to train. We’re training now, and we’re going to continue to train and be ready for whatever our president and our secretary of defense may ask us to do.”
continued...........