Why is it called 11th MEU?

Good day Ladies and Gentlemen, I was watching a program called U.S. Marines: First to Fight, the other day, and it was following the 11th MEU training exercises and what they do. From what I got from the showing, there's three MEUs on East Coast, three on West Coast, and 1 or 2 (I forget) in Japan. If this is the case then why is it called the 11th MEU instead of the 6th or 7th? Is it some sort of ruse? -Thank You. (PS3 won't enter properly spaced paragraphs, sorry)

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Originally Posted by KingOfNegus

Good day Ladies and Gentlemen, I was watching a program called U.S. Marines: First to Fight, the other day, and it was following the 11th MEU training exercises and what they do. From what I got from the showing, there's three MEUs on East Coast, three on West Coast, and 1 or 2 (I forget) in Japan. If this is the case then why is it called the 11th MEU instead of the 6th or 7th? Is it some sort of ruse? -Thank You. (PS3 won't enter properly spaced paragraphs, sorry)

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No ruse. Any MEU in the 10 series is from the 1stMarDiv (I MEF) on the West Coast, and in the 20 series is from the 2d MarDiv (II MEF) on the East Coast, and any 30 series is from the 3rd MarDiv (III MEF) on Okinawa.

As far as I know, they spread out the numbering to prevent confusion between MEUs in communication. 2d MarDiv MEUs are even numbered while 1st and 3rd MarDiv MEUs are odd numbered. Just the way someone thunk 'em up years ago and the system works, so they kept it.

Simple yet effective. I like it :) Thank you, sir.