thedrifter
08-18-07, 05:41 AM
Marines expect to cut size of Anbar forces
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
CAMP PENDLETON ---- The Marine Corps said Friday that it expects to shrink the size of its forces in the Anbar province, where 25,000 North County-based Marines and sailors have been stationed the last several years.
The reduction applies only to forces in Anbar and not to the number of Marines in Iraq as a whole, at least for now, a Marine Corps spokesman said.
"Until we're told otherwise, the Marine Corps will maintain its current deployed numbers," Maj. Jay Delarosa at the service's Pentagon headquarters said in response to questions from the North County Times.
Insurgent attacks in Anbar have declined in recent months because of increased tribal cooperation with U.S. forces. So the Marine Corps has been shifting its focus to other areas, such as the Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.
Until the recent successes in Anbar, which is west of Baghdad, the province was the most lethal region in Iraq. At least 1,257 U.S. troops have died there, including a majority of the 336 locally based troops who have been killed in the war.
Earlier this year, Lt. Gen. James Mattis, head of the I Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton and commander of Marine forces throughout the Middle East, said Marines would chase insurgents who have fled Anbar.
There are currently about 8,000 locally based Marines and sailors in Iraq. Most are serving with units attached to the North Carolina-based II Marine Expeditionary Force.
The Pentagon announced that an estimated 11,000 Camp Pendleton Marines and sailors from the I Marine Expeditionary Force's Headquarters Group and Regimental Combat Teams 1 and 5 will be heading to Iraq late this year and early next year.
When the units ship out, they'll be taking the Marine Corps' newest and most controversial aircraft with them, the tilt-rotor Osprey helicopter. They'll also be getting more v-hulled, mine-resistant vehicles.
The on-ground commander of those troops will be Brig. Gen. John Kelly, who currently serves as legislative assistant to the commandant of the Marine Corps and has been nominated for promotion to major general.
Lt. Col. Christopher Hughes, spokesman for the I Marine Expeditionary Force, said Kelly's legislative work in recent months should serve him well as he undertakes his new assignment.
"He has a great relationship with Congress so that open line of communication should be very helpful," Hughes said Friday.
Next month, Army Gen. David Petraeus will appear on Capitol Hill for a much-anticipated report on the result of President Bush's escalation in troop forces that began in February.
In a live interview broadcast by the Pentagon on Friday morning, Petraeus said he and his commanders were "still grappling" with what they will tell lawmakers. He refused to cite any specific recommendations he plans to make.
"We're still figuring out how we may reshape things in the coming months," he said.
While singling out the Anbar region as a significant area of success, the general also acknowledged that stability throughout Iraq remains an elusive goal.
"There's still an enormous amount of work to be done," Petraeus said.
When the next group of Marines from Camp Pendleton and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station go to Iraq, they will have some of the latest in war-fighting machinery.
Next month, the first squadron of V-22 Osprey aircraft the Marine Corps has spent more than two decades developing will deploy to Iraq in advance of the next rotation of troops from Camp Pendleton.
The hybrid aircraft that can fly like an airplane and maneuver like a helicopter experienced numerous problems and crashes during its development. The aircraft is intended to replace the Vietnam-era helicopters, which are vulnerable to small arms and rocket attacks by ground forces.
At Miramar, the Marine Corps is hosting a squadron of MV-22 Ospreys from North Carolina the rest of this month and through Sept. 8 to give the public and media a chance to see the aircraft up close.
During its development, a pair of Osprey crashes killed 23 Marines, including 19 from Miramar and Camp Pendleton.
Along with the Osprey becoming operational over the next several months, the Marine Corps also is expecting a large increase in mine-resistant vehicles it now has in Iraq.
The bomb-resistant vehicles have been sought urgently by Army and Marine Corps generals to reduce the No. 1 cause of deaths and injuries in Iraq.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
CAMP PENDLETON ---- The Marine Corps said Friday that it expects to shrink the size of its forces in the Anbar province, where 25,000 North County-based Marines and sailors have been stationed the last several years.
The reduction applies only to forces in Anbar and not to the number of Marines in Iraq as a whole, at least for now, a Marine Corps spokesman said.
"Until we're told otherwise, the Marine Corps will maintain its current deployed numbers," Maj. Jay Delarosa at the service's Pentagon headquarters said in response to questions from the North County Times.
Insurgent attacks in Anbar have declined in recent months because of increased tribal cooperation with U.S. forces. So the Marine Corps has been shifting its focus to other areas, such as the Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.
Until the recent successes in Anbar, which is west of Baghdad, the province was the most lethal region in Iraq. At least 1,257 U.S. troops have died there, including a majority of the 336 locally based troops who have been killed in the war.
Earlier this year, Lt. Gen. James Mattis, head of the I Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton and commander of Marine forces throughout the Middle East, said Marines would chase insurgents who have fled Anbar.
There are currently about 8,000 locally based Marines and sailors in Iraq. Most are serving with units attached to the North Carolina-based II Marine Expeditionary Force.
The Pentagon announced that an estimated 11,000 Camp Pendleton Marines and sailors from the I Marine Expeditionary Force's Headquarters Group and Regimental Combat Teams 1 and 5 will be heading to Iraq late this year and early next year.
When the units ship out, they'll be taking the Marine Corps' newest and most controversial aircraft with them, the tilt-rotor Osprey helicopter. They'll also be getting more v-hulled, mine-resistant vehicles.
The on-ground commander of those troops will be Brig. Gen. John Kelly, who currently serves as legislative assistant to the commandant of the Marine Corps and has been nominated for promotion to major general.
Lt. Col. Christopher Hughes, spokesman for the I Marine Expeditionary Force, said Kelly's legislative work in recent months should serve him well as he undertakes his new assignment.
"He has a great relationship with Congress so that open line of communication should be very helpful," Hughes said Friday.
Next month, Army Gen. David Petraeus will appear on Capitol Hill for a much-anticipated report on the result of President Bush's escalation in troop forces that began in February.
In a live interview broadcast by the Pentagon on Friday morning, Petraeus said he and his commanders were "still grappling" with what they will tell lawmakers. He refused to cite any specific recommendations he plans to make.
"We're still figuring out how we may reshape things in the coming months," he said.
While singling out the Anbar region as a significant area of success, the general also acknowledged that stability throughout Iraq remains an elusive goal.
"There's still an enormous amount of work to be done," Petraeus said.
When the next group of Marines from Camp Pendleton and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station go to Iraq, they will have some of the latest in war-fighting machinery.
Next month, the first squadron of V-22 Osprey aircraft the Marine Corps has spent more than two decades developing will deploy to Iraq in advance of the next rotation of troops from Camp Pendleton.
The hybrid aircraft that can fly like an airplane and maneuver like a helicopter experienced numerous problems and crashes during its development. The aircraft is intended to replace the Vietnam-era helicopters, which are vulnerable to small arms and rocket attacks by ground forces.
At Miramar, the Marine Corps is hosting a squadron of MV-22 Ospreys from North Carolina the rest of this month and through Sept. 8 to give the public and media a chance to see the aircraft up close.
During its development, a pair of Osprey crashes killed 23 Marines, including 19 from Miramar and Camp Pendleton.
Along with the Osprey becoming operational over the next several months, the Marine Corps also is expecting a large increase in mine-resistant vehicles it now has in Iraq.
The bomb-resistant vehicles have been sought urgently by Army and Marine Corps generals to reduce the No. 1 cause of deaths and injuries in Iraq.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.