thedrifter
05-11-07, 07:39 PM
Camp Lejeune artillery battery deactivates
By Trista Talton - Staff writer
Posted : Friday May 11, 2007 17:41:13 EDT
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Camp Lejeune Marines said goodbye to an old friend Friday, flying the India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines, flag for the final time as an East Coast unit.
The artillery battery, which has called Lejeune home since 1986, is moving west this fall, where it will reactivate with 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
“You’re part of a bigger change in Marine Corps artillery,” said Col. Glenn Starnes, 2nd Marine Division chief of staff, to an audience of Marines with the battery’s four platoons, which recently returned from a tour in Iraq.
“I think it’s proper that your last mission was to be firing rounds in combat,” Starnes said. “But you men in India have been doing it better than most lately. You held the flag high of India, continue to hold the flag high of the Marine Corps.”
The West Coast needs an additional battery now that a battery with 5th Battalion, 11th Marines, is transitioning to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, said Lt. Col. Chris McCarthy, commander of 3/10.
India’s move will create a balance between 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions, with 12 firing batteries on each coast.
The more than 100 Marines in the battery are being dispersed to other batteries in other regiments; some already have orders, McCarthy said. The battery’s six M198s will be moved to the West Coast.
“The equipment is moving, and the capability will be there once the equipment arrives,” McCarthy said.
The battery was formed 65 years ago and has fought in places including Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Vietnam and Iraq.
Ellie
By Trista Talton - Staff writer
Posted : Friday May 11, 2007 17:41:13 EDT
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Camp Lejeune Marines said goodbye to an old friend Friday, flying the India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines, flag for the final time as an East Coast unit.
The artillery battery, which has called Lejeune home since 1986, is moving west this fall, where it will reactivate with 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
“You’re part of a bigger change in Marine Corps artillery,” said Col. Glenn Starnes, 2nd Marine Division chief of staff, to an audience of Marines with the battery’s four platoons, which recently returned from a tour in Iraq.
“I think it’s proper that your last mission was to be firing rounds in combat,” Starnes said. “But you men in India have been doing it better than most lately. You held the flag high of India, continue to hold the flag high of the Marine Corps.”
The West Coast needs an additional battery now that a battery with 5th Battalion, 11th Marines, is transitioning to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, said Lt. Col. Chris McCarthy, commander of 3/10.
India’s move will create a balance between 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions, with 12 firing batteries on each coast.
The more than 100 Marines in the battery are being dispersed to other batteries in other regiments; some already have orders, McCarthy said. The battery’s six M198s will be moved to the West Coast.
“The equipment is moving, and the capability will be there once the equipment arrives,” McCarthy said.
The battery was formed 65 years ago and has fought in places including Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Vietnam and Iraq.
Ellie