thedrifter
06-02-07, 06:35 AM
26th MEU on its way back home
STAFF REPORT
The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit is headed home after a busy five months.
After leaving in January, the unit entered the U.S. Central Command area of operations at the end of that month to support regional security efforts and to quickly respond to any incident across the Middle East.
Here is what the unit's been working on during its deployment:
Members of the unit spent time in Djibouti conducting Image Nautilus, an exercise involving bilateral military training.
Combat Logistics Battalion provided all the logistics while Marines from Battalion Landing Team 2/2 worked with Djiboutian soldiers on weapons handling drills. BLT 2/2 spent two days painting, repairing and cleaning at Ecole du Stade Primary School in the Balballa area of Djibouti City.
Marines and sailors participated in Exercise Edged Mallet in March, working with the Kenyan army and on community relations projects in the surrounding areas of Naval Station Manda Bay, Kenya.
Marines from the CLB helped refurbish the Bargoni Primary School in Bargoni, Kenya. Medical specialists from the MEU and the Bataan Strike Group held a two-day medical clinic for residents of the Bargoni area.
The unit and forces in Qatar conducted bilateral military training in April.
The exercise Eastern Maverick enhanced interoperability and tactical proficiency between U.S. and Qatari forces. Approximately 900 Marines and sailors from the unit participated in the exercise.
The unit offloaded nearly all personnel and equipment from the ships of the Bataan Strike Group into Kuwait April 23 to begin two weeks of sustainment training at the Udairi Range complex.
The USS Bataan and Shreveport set a course around the Arabian Peninsula and into a Middle East port to stage the MEU for its final engagement exercise in CENTCOM's area of responsibility.
On May 25, an AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter was involved in a mishap in Jordan during a bilateral training exercise with the Jordanian armed forces. The two pilots were treated for injuries at the scene and transported to Amman for evaluation.
The bilateral training ended with a combined operation with motorized, mechanized and helicopter-borne forces from BLT 2/2 and the host nation's military conducting a coordinated assault with air support from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron- 264 (Reinforced).
Although the unit didn't stop in Iraq or Afghanistan, the importance of the work the Marines and sailors did cannot be overstated, said Col. Gregg A. Sturdevant, 26th MEU commander.
"Our continued engagement and regional stability are key to ensuring nations in the Middle East don't fall prey to transnational terrorism," Sturdevant said.
Ellie
STAFF REPORT
The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit is headed home after a busy five months.
After leaving in January, the unit entered the U.S. Central Command area of operations at the end of that month to support regional security efforts and to quickly respond to any incident across the Middle East.
Here is what the unit's been working on during its deployment:
Members of the unit spent time in Djibouti conducting Image Nautilus, an exercise involving bilateral military training.
Combat Logistics Battalion provided all the logistics while Marines from Battalion Landing Team 2/2 worked with Djiboutian soldiers on weapons handling drills. BLT 2/2 spent two days painting, repairing and cleaning at Ecole du Stade Primary School in the Balballa area of Djibouti City.
Marines and sailors participated in Exercise Edged Mallet in March, working with the Kenyan army and on community relations projects in the surrounding areas of Naval Station Manda Bay, Kenya.
Marines from the CLB helped refurbish the Bargoni Primary School in Bargoni, Kenya. Medical specialists from the MEU and the Bataan Strike Group held a two-day medical clinic for residents of the Bargoni area.
The unit and forces in Qatar conducted bilateral military training in April.
The exercise Eastern Maverick enhanced interoperability and tactical proficiency between U.S. and Qatari forces. Approximately 900 Marines and sailors from the unit participated in the exercise.
The unit offloaded nearly all personnel and equipment from the ships of the Bataan Strike Group into Kuwait April 23 to begin two weeks of sustainment training at the Udairi Range complex.
The USS Bataan and Shreveport set a course around the Arabian Peninsula and into a Middle East port to stage the MEU for its final engagement exercise in CENTCOM's area of responsibility.
On May 25, an AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter was involved in a mishap in Jordan during a bilateral training exercise with the Jordanian armed forces. The two pilots were treated for injuries at the scene and transported to Amman for evaluation.
The bilateral training ended with a combined operation with motorized, mechanized and helicopter-borne forces from BLT 2/2 and the host nation's military conducting a coordinated assault with air support from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron- 264 (Reinforced).
Although the unit didn't stop in Iraq or Afghanistan, the importance of the work the Marines and sailors did cannot be overstated, said Col. Gregg A. Sturdevant, 26th MEU commander.
"Our continued engagement and regional stability are key to ensuring nations in the Middle East don't fall prey to transnational terrorism," Sturdevant said.
Ellie