thedrifter
10-28-08, 06:44 AM
MILITARY: Miramar unit gets Afghanistan assignment
By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
MIRAMAR MARINE CORPS AIR STATION ---- A helicopter squadron based here has been tapped to join a contingent of Marines deploying to Afghanistan next month.
Marine Maj. David Nevers at the Pentagon said Monday that Miramar's Heavy Helicopter Squadron 466 will be part of the aviation element attached to a cobbled-together force of 2,000 Marines and sailors ordered to Afghanistan to preserve gains made by a Marine force due to come home at the end of November.
The 466th, known as the Wolfpack, operates Sikorsky-built CH-53 helicopters that can carry about three dozen troops along with its two pilots and a crew chief.
Miramar spokesman Maj. Jay Delarosa said the Wolfpack was selected in part because they have been home for several months and are prepared for what awaits them in Afghanistan.
"These Marines have undergone a rigorous training program specifically tailored to their mission," he said.
The Miramar unit is part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing attached to the Camp Pendleton-based I Marine Expeditionary Force. It was not immediately clear how many troops from the Wolfpack will be heading overseas.
The troops heading to Afghanistan next month are replacing Marines and sailors from Camp Lejeune's 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment from the Marine Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms who have been deployed since April.
Those units were originally sent as part of what was then called a "one-time" deployment for the Marines.
The specially designed air and ground task force includes about 1,000 Marines and sailors from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
The remaining 1,000 troops are being drawn from Marine bases around the world, including units from Hawaii and Miramar. No Camp Pendleton units have been designated to join the deployment.
The Marines will be followed into Afghanistan in January by 3,700 Army troops from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, based at Fort Drum, N.Y.
President Bush announced last month that he would send the new group of Marines and an Army force to Afghanistan, where a resurgent Taliban and al-Qaida have carried out more attacks this year than any since the U.S.-led invasion of that country in 2001.
Marine Lt. Col. Richard Hall, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, said last week that his troops trained more than 800 new Afghan National Police during their deployment.
His unit and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit represented the first large-scale Marine presence in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.
When that deployment was announced, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said it would be a one-time assignment and that no additional Marine deployments were anticipated.
In the intervening months, however, increasing violence in Afghanistan has led commanders to ask for 15,000 more U.S. troops to join the roughly 33,000 there now. An additional 51,000 NATO troops are operating throughout Afghanistan.
The NATO commander, U.S. Gen. David McKiernan, has issued public appeals for the additional troops to help stop a "downward spiral" in Afghanistan.
Military officials have said they expect the Taliban and foreign fighters to maintain a stepped-up pace of attacks during the winter months, unlike in past years when fighting has subsided as the temperatures dropped.
Analysts say the resurgent Taliban has capitalized in recent months on a weak central government and money from opium production, as well as a shift in al-Qaida away from Iraq to Afghanistan to bolster its operations.
Increased security throughout Iraq, particularly in the Anbar province, prompted Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway last year to call for leaving Iraq and shifting his troops to Afghanistan, saying the mission there is a better fit for his combat forces.
So far this year, 150 U.S. troops and 104 troops from coalition countries have been killed in Afghanistan. The combined death toll of 254 is the highest annual total since the 2001 invasion, according to icasualties.org., an independent Web site that compiles its statistics from official reports.
By comparison, 281 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since Jan. 1 of this year.
More U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan this month ---- 14 ---- than in Iraq, where 12 U.S. troops have died.
More than 5,200 people ---- militants and civilians ---- have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count compiled from Western and Afghan officials.
The fatality figure for Iraq through Oct. 26 is one of the lowest monthly totals since the 2003 invasion of that country.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie
By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
MIRAMAR MARINE CORPS AIR STATION ---- A helicopter squadron based here has been tapped to join a contingent of Marines deploying to Afghanistan next month.
Marine Maj. David Nevers at the Pentagon said Monday that Miramar's Heavy Helicopter Squadron 466 will be part of the aviation element attached to a cobbled-together force of 2,000 Marines and sailors ordered to Afghanistan to preserve gains made by a Marine force due to come home at the end of November.
The 466th, known as the Wolfpack, operates Sikorsky-built CH-53 helicopters that can carry about three dozen troops along with its two pilots and a crew chief.
Miramar spokesman Maj. Jay Delarosa said the Wolfpack was selected in part because they have been home for several months and are prepared for what awaits them in Afghanistan.
"These Marines have undergone a rigorous training program specifically tailored to their mission," he said.
The Miramar unit is part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing attached to the Camp Pendleton-based I Marine Expeditionary Force. It was not immediately clear how many troops from the Wolfpack will be heading overseas.
The troops heading to Afghanistan next month are replacing Marines and sailors from Camp Lejeune's 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment from the Marine Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms who have been deployed since April.
Those units were originally sent as part of what was then called a "one-time" deployment for the Marines.
The specially designed air and ground task force includes about 1,000 Marines and sailors from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
The remaining 1,000 troops are being drawn from Marine bases around the world, including units from Hawaii and Miramar. No Camp Pendleton units have been designated to join the deployment.
The Marines will be followed into Afghanistan in January by 3,700 Army troops from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, based at Fort Drum, N.Y.
President Bush announced last month that he would send the new group of Marines and an Army force to Afghanistan, where a resurgent Taliban and al-Qaida have carried out more attacks this year than any since the U.S.-led invasion of that country in 2001.
Marine Lt. Col. Richard Hall, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, said last week that his troops trained more than 800 new Afghan National Police during their deployment.
His unit and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit represented the first large-scale Marine presence in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.
When that deployment was announced, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said it would be a one-time assignment and that no additional Marine deployments were anticipated.
In the intervening months, however, increasing violence in Afghanistan has led commanders to ask for 15,000 more U.S. troops to join the roughly 33,000 there now. An additional 51,000 NATO troops are operating throughout Afghanistan.
The NATO commander, U.S. Gen. David McKiernan, has issued public appeals for the additional troops to help stop a "downward spiral" in Afghanistan.
Military officials have said they expect the Taliban and foreign fighters to maintain a stepped-up pace of attacks during the winter months, unlike in past years when fighting has subsided as the temperatures dropped.
Analysts say the resurgent Taliban has capitalized in recent months on a weak central government and money from opium production, as well as a shift in al-Qaida away from Iraq to Afghanistan to bolster its operations.
Increased security throughout Iraq, particularly in the Anbar province, prompted Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway last year to call for leaving Iraq and shifting his troops to Afghanistan, saying the mission there is a better fit for his combat forces.
So far this year, 150 U.S. troops and 104 troops from coalition countries have been killed in Afghanistan. The combined death toll of 254 is the highest annual total since the 2001 invasion, according to icasualties.org., an independent Web site that compiles its statistics from official reports.
By comparison, 281 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since Jan. 1 of this year.
More U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan this month ---- 14 ---- than in Iraq, where 12 U.S. troops have died.
More than 5,200 people ---- militants and civilians ---- have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count compiled from Western and Afghan officials.
The fatality figure for Iraq through Oct. 26 is one of the lowest monthly totals since the 2003 invasion of that country.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie