thedrifter
04-28-07, 06:42 AM
Article published Apr 27, 2007
Belle Chasse-based Marines prepare for Iraq duty
BELLE CHASSE, La. (AP) — Hundreds of Belle Chasse-based active-duty and reserve Marines are preparing for duty in Iraq.
The Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base Marines are in three Reserve units, comprising infantrymen, combat aviators and military police. The specific dates for their departures have not been released, and their deployment orders are not related. Two of the units, the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, and a military police detachment assigned to the air group, are returning to Iraq for second tours since the March 2003 invasion.
Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773, Detachment A — known as the NOMADs, for New Orleans Marine Air Detachment — in September will send about 100 active-duty and reserve Marines, said Lt. Col. John Ostrowski, commander of the air group detachment.
The reservists in the squadron are “mostly local,” living within 50 miles of New Orleans, he said. Their orders are for a year, though they are expected to pull “a standard rotation” of six to seven months in Iraq, he said.
They will be assigned to Anbar Province in western Iraq and will relieve active-duty Marine aviators and their ground crews, he said.
Squadron-773 members deployed to Afghanistan in 2003. But while some of its members already have been to Iraq as members of other squadrons, the Marines will deploy to that country for the first time as NOMADs. “Less than a quarter of them will be deploying for the first time,” Sprague said of the squadron’s more than 100 members.
Staff Sgt. Eric Brumbley, an active-duty helicopter airframe mechanic from Waynesboro, Va., is neutral about the deployment, which will mark his fourth trip to Iraq. He was with other units during the previous tours.
“I’m just basically going back to a place I’ve been to before,” said Brumbley, who joined the NOMADs in January. “It’s becoming a regular thing.”
Deployment for the military police detachment, which participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq by providing security for front-line helicopter rearming and refueling sites, is less clear. “All indications are that they are going to go,” Ostrowski said.
Meanwhile, the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, is undergoing pre-deployment training in California. Their departure date for Iraq was not released.
The battalion has about 850 members, including about 280 who are assigned to its headquarters and service company at the air station. The balance are assigned to companies stationed in Baton Rouge; North Little Rock, Ark.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Montgomery, Ala.
Information from: The Times-Picayune
Ellie
Belle Chasse-based Marines prepare for Iraq duty
BELLE CHASSE, La. (AP) — Hundreds of Belle Chasse-based active-duty and reserve Marines are preparing for duty in Iraq.
The Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base Marines are in three Reserve units, comprising infantrymen, combat aviators and military police. The specific dates for their departures have not been released, and their deployment orders are not related. Two of the units, the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, and a military police detachment assigned to the air group, are returning to Iraq for second tours since the March 2003 invasion.
Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773, Detachment A — known as the NOMADs, for New Orleans Marine Air Detachment — in September will send about 100 active-duty and reserve Marines, said Lt. Col. John Ostrowski, commander of the air group detachment.
The reservists in the squadron are “mostly local,” living within 50 miles of New Orleans, he said. Their orders are for a year, though they are expected to pull “a standard rotation” of six to seven months in Iraq, he said.
They will be assigned to Anbar Province in western Iraq and will relieve active-duty Marine aviators and their ground crews, he said.
Squadron-773 members deployed to Afghanistan in 2003. But while some of its members already have been to Iraq as members of other squadrons, the Marines will deploy to that country for the first time as NOMADs. “Less than a quarter of them will be deploying for the first time,” Sprague said of the squadron’s more than 100 members.
Staff Sgt. Eric Brumbley, an active-duty helicopter airframe mechanic from Waynesboro, Va., is neutral about the deployment, which will mark his fourth trip to Iraq. He was with other units during the previous tours.
“I’m just basically going back to a place I’ve been to before,” said Brumbley, who joined the NOMADs in January. “It’s becoming a regular thing.”
Deployment for the military police detachment, which participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq by providing security for front-line helicopter rearming and refueling sites, is less clear. “All indications are that they are going to go,” Ostrowski said.
Meanwhile, the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, is undergoing pre-deployment training in California. Their departure date for Iraq was not released.
The battalion has about 850 members, including about 280 who are assigned to its headquarters and service company at the air station. The balance are assigned to companies stationed in Baton Rouge; North Little Rock, Ark.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Montgomery, Ala.
Information from: The Times-Picayune
Ellie