Last of 24th MEU ships out
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  1. #1

    Exclamation Last of 24th MEU ships out

    Last of 24th MEU ships out
    March 25, 2008 - 12:32AM
    MOLLY DEWITT
    DAILY NEWS STAFF

    Part of the command ele-ment and the last wave of oth-er Marines and sailors with the 24th Marine Expedition-ary Unit left for a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan on Monday morning.More than 2,200 Marines and sailors have deployed as part of the 24th MEU."I'm very much looking for-ward to (the deployment).

    It's a good mission. It's a perfect fit for the MEU," said Capt. Thomas Ryan.Not everyone shared his positive outlook on the upcom-ing months.Amanda Hanley has been trying to prepare her 10-month-old son for the deploy-ment by purchasing a daddy doll and laminating pictures of her husband, Senior Chief Pet-ty Officer Tim Hanley, to put in her son's bedroom, she said."This (deployment is) go-ing to be the hardest," Hanley said.

    But she is still able to remain positive."I'm a (key volunteer) so it's good. It keeps me involved. It keeps me with other families so we can support each other and stick together," she said.Lance Cpl. Scott Wood is also experiencing mixed emo-tions about the deployment. He's happy to be going but un-happy to be leaving behind his unborn child, he sad."She's three months along now. Hopefully everything goes well, and I'll come home and be a daddy," Wood said.

    "It's kinda sad, but at the same time I'm gonna come home and see a little girl or a little boy and know that it's my child."Although the atmosphere in Afghanistan may differ from that in Iraq, the 24th MEU will adapt to the mission at hand, Ryan said."I think we're gonna apply the same principles that we've always trained for," Ryan said."We're well versed in a wide breadth of different mission types. Whether you put us in Iraq, Afghanistan or a tradi-tional float, we're going to act the same."

    Contact Molly DeWitt at mde-witt@freedomenc.com, or 910-353-1171, ext. 8457.

    Ellie


  2. #2
    Jacksonville Marines planning for Afghanistan
    March 24, 2008 - 8:59PM
    Jennifer Hlad
    Freedom ENC

    JACKSONVILLE - Marines love to plan.

    But the troops assigned to Marine Expeditionary Units don't always know what they're planning for.

    A MEU is set up as a "911 force," a combination of air, ground and support units ready to go wherever it is needed. Sometimes, that somewhere is Iraq. Other times, the roughly 2,200 Marines and sailors will deploy on ships, sailing to various destinations in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, responding to situations as needed.

    The command element, battalion landing team, aviation element and combat logistics element work together to form the MEU, said Col. Pete Petronzio, the commanding officer of the 24th MEU.

    "What makes all that unique is the fact that the sum of the whole is much greater than all of its parts," he said.

    All the various types of units train, live and work as a team, he said.

    "Everything we do, we do together," Petronzio said. "Everybody knows a little bit about what everybody else does."

    The 22nd MEU returned in January from a deployment that included humanitarian relief operations in Bangladesh, support of President Bush's visit to Israel, community relations projects in Djibouti and training in Kuwait. And while the 22nd MEU was on its way back, the 24th MEU learned where its seven-month deployment would take them: southern Afghanistan.

    "The MEU is well suited for any task. It just happens to be Afghanistan," Petronzio said Friday in a phone interview.

    MEUs train for roughly 20 different types of missions, making them "the ultimate multitool," he said.

    "It just so happens that this time we ended up in Afghanistan."

    Contact Jennifer Hlad at jhlad@freedomenc.com or visit her blog at http://fromafghanistan.encblogs.com.

    Ellie


  3. #3
    Jacksonville Marines planning for Afghanistan
    March 24, 2008 - 8:59PM
    Jennifer Hlad
    Freedom ENC

    JACKSONVILLE - Marines love to plan.

    But the troops assigned to Marine Expeditionary Units don't always know what they're planning for.

    A MEU is set up as a "911 force," a combination of air, ground and support units ready to go wherever it is needed. Sometimes, that somewhere is Iraq. Other times, the roughly 2,200 Marines and sailors will deploy on ships, sailing to various destinations in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, responding to situations as needed.

    The command element, battalion landing team, aviation element and combat logistics element work together to form the MEU, said Col. Pete Petronzio, the commanding officer of the 24th MEU.

    "What makes all that unique is the fact that the sum of the whole is much greater than all of its parts," he said.

    All the various types of units train, live and work as a team, he said.

    "Everything we do, we do together," Petronzio said. "Everybody knows a little bit about what everybody else does."

    The 22nd MEU returned in January from a deployment that included humanitarian relief operations in Bangladesh, support of President Bush's visit to Israel, community relations projects in Djibouti and training in Kuwait. And while the 22nd MEU was on its way back, the 24th MEU learned where its seven-month deployment would take them: southern Afghanistan.

    "The MEU is well suited for any task. It just happens to be Afghanistan," Petronzio said Friday in a phone interview.

    MEUs train for roughly 20 different types of missions, making them "the ultimate multitool," he said.

    "It just so happens that this time we ended up in Afghanistan."

    Contact Jennifer Hlad at jhlad@freedomenc.com or visit her blog at http://fromafghanistan.encblogs.com.

    Ellie


  4. #4
    More than whos, whats and wheres
    Pursuing a story that is personal and professional
    March 25, 2008 - 12:20AM
    JENNIFER HLAD
    Daily News Staff

    Frequent readers of The Daily News may recognize my name as a military reporter. But not everyone knows I am also a military wife.My husband is an officer with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit - the unit I am travel-ing with to Afghanistan. Many people have assumed I asked to deploy with the 24th MEU so I can spend time with my husband. While it is certainly a bonus that I will be able to see him, it is not my motivation.

    As a reporter, I've had the opportunity to meet many Ma-rines and sailors and tell their stories. Now, I have a unique chance to tell the stories no one else has been able to write - what life is like on this base, how the food really is, how our local Marines work with troops from other countries and how they are working to achieve their mission on a battlefield many Americans have forgot-ten. And I think I am better able to tell all those stories because I am a military wife - not just a military reporter.While any reporter can ask the who, what, where, when and whys, I know exactly what it is like to sit at home for six months, waiting for phone calls and e-mails that provide only a small glimpse of what is go-ing on half a world away. That knowledge informs me when I interview service members and families at Camp Lejeune, and it will certainly help when I land in Afghanistan. I also wel-come feedback and suggestions about the stories, information and photos that readers want to see. Initially, I was worried about the appearance of a conflict of interest.

    However, I believe that those who know me and those who read my stories will see that my goal is to tell the truth - whatever that truth may be. The commanders of the 24th MEU understand that, and my husband understands it as well. While I would never compro-mise the safety of service mem-bers - no matter the unit or branch of the armed services - I also will not compromise my journalistic integrity. As this deployment moves forward, I will write and blog about my experiences - on a personal and a professional lev-el - and I hope these diary en-tries will help shed some light on how I do my job and how the Marines do theirs. I know it will certainly be an eye-open-ing experience for me. Starting her journeyI have done a lot of travel-ing, internationally and within the United States.

    I once got stuck in the Las Vegas airport for nine hours -- on a trip that wasn't supposed to go through Las Vegas in the first place. But traveling with the military is definitely an exercise in pa-tience. And I haven't even got-ten north of the Mason-Dixon line. I started out the day at about 8 a.m., when I met at Camp Lejeune with the Marines leav-ing today. The buses arrived at 10:30, and the Marines loaded up the gear, said goodbye to loved ones ... and then traveled about five minutes to the ar-mory to pick up their weapons.

    An hour later, they loaded back on the bus, and we final-ly left Camp Lejeune shortly before noon. We got to Cherry Point Air Station about 12:45, where the Marines yanked their sea bags off the buses, shoved everything on carts for loading onto the plane, and then settled in for more waiting.For more than two hours, the men and women hung out in a warehouse-like building at Cherry Point, talking, eating or sneaking a nap. Finally, at about 3, it was time to get on the plane - a large, commer-cial jet.But the flight didn't last long.

    The view out the window turned quickly from picturesque coast-line to hulking grey ships, and the plane touched down in Vir-ginia, where we'll pick up more troops on their way to the Mid-dle East. There's no telling how long we'll be here, or where we'll go next. But I am just enjoying the ride. And the onion rings at the dining facility.



    Contact Jennifer Hlad at jhlad@freedomenc.com or visit her blog at http://fromafghani-stan.encblogs.com.

    Ellie


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