Pendleton Special Operations group now in Afghanistan

By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer

NORTH COUNTY ---- A Special Operations unit based at Camp Pendleton has been working in Afghanistan for the last several weeks, replacing a unit that was pulled out of the country earlier this year after being accused of killing several civilians during what was described as a response to an attack.

The Camp Pendleton unit of approximately 120 men left for the Middle East with the base's 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit in June and arrived in Afghanistan a few weeks later, said Maj. Cliff Gilmore, spokesman for the Marine Corps' Special Operations Command.

Saying it was tired of losing its best troops to a joint service command, the Marine Corps in 2005 announced it would form its own Special Operations group with units based in North Carolina and at Camp Pendleton.


The Camp Pendleton unit's deployment to Afghanistan is the first known overseas assignment for the group.

Gilmore said operational security prevented him from saying precisely where the group is and what kind of work it has been conducting.

It was not immediately clear when the group will come home, but the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit with which it sailed from San Diego earlier this summer is expected home by year's end.

The North Carolina unit that had been in Afghanistan was ordered out of the country after a March 4 incident in which several civilians were killed as the Marines responded to what was described as an attack by a suicide bomber.

While the Marines contend they fired in self-defense, witnesses asserted that they fired indiscriminately as they drove along a roadway near the border with Pakistan.

As many as 30 Marines from that unit are said to be under investigation. Camp Pendleton's Lt. Gen. James Mattis is the "disposition authority" over the matter.

The investigation, conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is largely complete and is being reviewed by Marine lawyers at Marine Corps Forces Central Command, said command spokesman Lt. Col. Sean Gibson.

Mattis is in charge of that command as well as Camp Pendleton's I Marine Expeditionary Force, a role he will soon leave to become a four-star general and work at a new job in Virginia.

"The next step following the review will be a recommendation to Mattis, who will decide whether there will be any charges," Gibson said.

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.

Ellie