Could Marines get involved in Libya?
February 28th, 2011 | MEU operations | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Libyan protesters demonstrate against Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi in Tobruk, Libya, last week. (Associated Press photo)
More than 200 years ago, Marines made a name for themselves fighting the Barbary pirates at the shores of Tripoli. Could they be returning soon?
The question at least needs to be asked, in light of the Pentagon’s acknowledgement today that they are repositioning naval forces off the coast of Libya — including its capital, Tripoli — as the security situation in the north African country continues to crumble.
Conceptually, it’s a made-for-Marines special if ground operations are deemed necessary. Marine expeditionary units aboard Navy vessels are typically among the first involved in humanitarian operations, evacuations and other actions needed in a crumbling country.
There’s a catch, however.
The nearby 26th MEU, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., already deployed much of its ground combat element — Battalion Landing Team 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines — to Afghanistan in January. There are certainly still able-bodied Marines with the MEU aboard the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge, but the scope of what they can do might be be limited.
Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan said the military is repositioning forces to provide flexibility as options are considered, but declined to provide specifics. A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, Army Lt. Col. Mike Lawhorn added similar sentiments.
Let’s not forget the other operations that could be called for, however. If airlifts are needed, there are still plenty of Navy and Marine aviation assets deployed with the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group. There also are Marines stationed in northern Africa in Djibouti, where Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa is based. Elements of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 464, out of New River, N.C., are currently based there with CH-53E heavy-lift helicopters.
Behind the Cover: The push for sniper changes
February 28th, 2011 | Afghanistan Behind the Cover Infantry Manpower | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Few jobs in the military have as much mystique as Marine scout sniper.
Army Ranger? Sure. Navy SEAL? Fair enough. The scout sniper has his own special reputation, though, and its one that’s earned the hard way.
Nevertheless, there is room for improvement, say many Marines who know the community. Scout snipers have no primary military occupational specialty, have limited career options and cannot compete for big bonuses unless they leave their conventional infantry battalions for the bright lights of a job in the reconnaissance field or Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command. And it’s hurting the scout sniper community as a whole, they say.
In this week’s Marine Corps Times cover story, I take a look at the push to professionalize the scout sniper corps. It’s especially relevant because the Infantry Operational Advisory Group, an influential group of Marine colonels, has pushed a recommendation up to general officers that the Corps consider big changes for scout snipers. What’s next, though? And how did the service get where it is? We lay it all out, using a combination of interviews and military documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
The cover story package also includes a separate story on the new sniper rifle that Marines are using in Afghanistan, and what could be fielded next. Insurgents won’t be fans, to say the least.
To check it out, head down to your exchange or subscribe here.
Marines and sailors aided refugees for 38 days
February 23rd, 2011 | Anti-piracy MEU operations | Posted by Dan Lamothe
This jam-packed skiff capsized in September, leaving at least 13 of its passengers dead in the Gulf of Aden. (Associated Press photo)
Sometimes, the tail end of a story gets forgotten. Such is the case with sailors and Marines who recently returned from a deployment with the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group and 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, out of San Diego, Calif.
You may remember the sad story of a skiff with about 85 Somalian and Ethiopian passengers capsizing in the Gulf of Aden in September, drowing at least 13 men and women. It’s a sad, but common theme: poor refugees running from economic hardship in African countries are known to brave the pirate-infested gulf to get to Yemen, risking their lives in the process.
About 62 survivors were rescued by sailors with the destroyer Winston Churchill and eventually transferred to the dock landing ship Pearl Harbor, officials said. The move gave the U.S. military time to sort out where they refugees could go — a concern in a hostile part of the world.
It is there that the story ended publicly — until now.
In an interview at the Pentagon, two of the top military officers involved told me Friday that the Marines and sailors on Pearl Harbor cared for the refugees for 38 days — far longer than anticipated when the U.S. came to their aid. It took more than a month to identify a country that would take them in, said Navy Capt. Dale Fuller, commanding officer of the Navy’s Amphibious Squadron 3, which oversaw the Peleliu, Pearl Harbor and other ships carrying the 15th MEU.
“We had full expectation that we would be sending the Pearl Harbor to the nearest port any day,” Fuller said. “But then it was a week later, and then two weeks later and then three weeks later. It was like, ‘OK guys, they’ve been on board for quite some time. Can we get a country designated so we can transfer these folks to shore? Thirty-eight days later, we eventually transferred these folks, these rescued persons, to Kenya in Mombasa.”
That left sailors and Marines caring for scared refugees for more than a month. They didn’t just feed them and cloth them, though. Shower facilities were set up on the flight deck. A clothing drive was conducted to give them something fresh to wear. Soccer balls were broken out, and laundry was done. Two female refugees were pregnant when rescued, and one lost her baby, Fuller said.
The mission is well within the ARG/MEU’s capability, but the duration of it was challenging, said Col. Roy Osborn, the 15th MEU commander.
“This is what you had to do for these people,” he said. “There really was no mission creep to it, it was just the duration. It was not a planned-to duration.”
The refugees were taken to a refugee camp in Kenya after they arrived in Mombasa, the commanders said. They were glad to be on land.
Rumor untrue: No, the 26th MEU is not in Kandahar
February 22nd, 2011 | Afghanistan Infantry MEU operations | Posted by Dan Lamothe
The Daily Herald in Tennessee broke a sad story yesterday: Lance Cpl. Andrew Carpenter was taken off life support and died Saturday at Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany.
To be clear, that’s the most important part of this story. He was married last year, and his wife, Crissie, is more than eight months pregnant, the Daily Herald reported. A rifle round severed his spinal cord after he was shot in the neck, the story said.
That story appears to have sparked a rumor that needs squashing, however. It says Carpenter was shot in Kandahar province, which falls outside Regional Command-Southwest, the Marine Corps’ area of operations in southern Afghanistan. Carpenter is reportedly a member of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is operating in the upper Gereshk Valley in northern Helmand province.
Two Marine Corps Times readers pointed out the Kandahar reference after the Associated Press picked up the Daily Herald’s story and reproduced it for dozens of newspapers to report.
Contacted for additional details, Maj. Gabrielle Chapin told Marine Corps Times that the MEU and its ground combat element — Battalion Landing Team 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines — is not in Kandahar. “That is RC-South,” she said. That regional command is to Helmand’s east and overseen by Army Maj. Gen. James Terry.
Soothing sounds of Marine artillery
February 21st, 2011 | Camp Lejeune Japan Training Weapons | Posted by Andrew deGrandpre
Members of Romeo Battery, 5th Battalion, 10th Marines, conduct live-fire training in February at Camp Lejeune, N.C. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Jeff Drew/Marine Corps)
If you love the sound of friendly artillery, be sure to crank the volume on your speakers before watching this little gem.
Marine Corps Times’ senior video journalist Colin Kelly caught up with members of Romeo Battery, 5th Battalion, 10th Marines, at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in early February — just a few weeks before the start of their six-month deployment to Okinawa.
They were good enough to give him a demo of this wondrous Howitzer, which we — in turn — are happy to share with you. Enjoy. And please be sure to keep these Marines and their families in your thoughts as they embark on a long journey away from home.
Behind the cover: Go MARSOC and stay
February 21st, 2011 | Behind the Cover MARSOC The CMC | Posted by Andrew deGrandpre
In an exclusive this week, senior writer Gina Cavallaro details the newly approved plan to create three military occupational specialties for operators, specialists and officers assigned to Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command. Plus, Cavallaro and San Diego bureau chief Gidget Fuentes team up to explain why the commandant shot down MARSOC’s effort to rename its units and personnel after the legendary Marine Raiders of World War II.
Both stories came to light after Marine Corps Times obtained a detailed presentation provided to Gen. Jim Amos and his most senior general officers late last month in New Orleans. Amos, a self-described “big fan” of MARSOC, was easily sold on the idea of creating a career path for operators, as it is expected to help the command retain experienced Marines, while also serving as a huge incentive to those weighing the pros and cons of trying out for such an exciting and demanding job.
Adapting the Raiders’ lineage is another story entirely, however. MARSOC’s plan had the support of the Marine Raider Association, but Amos is said to be no fan of singling out any Marines as somehow unique. “We’re Marines first,” Brig. Gen. David Berger, director of operations at Marine Corps headquarters, told Cavallaro during a sit-down Friday morning at the Pentagon. “… Your allegiance, your loyalty is to the Marine Corps.”
Read more about these and other stories in this week’s print issue, on newsstands now. Can’t wait? You can subscribe here. All the cool kids are doing it.
Marine Corps: Remember the BLT in MEU operations
February 21st, 2011 | Afghanistan Infantry MEU operations | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Apology time: Marine Corps Times has not been as precise in its naming conventions as it could have been.
I picked up on that in an e-mail from Afghanistan over the weekend, when public affairs Marines with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., sent the following about its ground combat element, Battalion Landing Team 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines:
Note to editors: Changing the unit name to “3rd Battalion, 8th Marines” is factually incorrect. When 3/8 attached to 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit in April of 2010, it became a battalion landing team under 26th MEU CO Col. Mark Desens. When the unit detaches from 26th MEU at the end of its current deployment, it will return to 8th Marines and that unit’s commander. The name of the unit in its current state is “Battalion Landing Team 3/8″.
Scan through recent Battle Rattle blog posts, and you’ll see that I’ve typically identified the unit as Battalion Landing Team 3/8 in the first reference, then shortened it to 3/8 afterward. I’ve also used 3/8 in blog headlines, rather than BLT 3/8. I used the unit’s full “Battalion Landing Team” name realizing that there is a difference — typically, a BLT is beefed up with mechanized elements — but shouldn’t have shortened it beyond that.
So, there you go: It’s BLT 3/8. Expect to see that going forward.
Bored Marine Video: Taking on Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’
February 18th, 2011 | Bored Marine Video | Posted by Dan Lamothe
I’m not usually much for YouTube videos that feature people lip-synching to someone else’s music, but exceptions can be made.
This is one of those times.
This week’s Bored Marine Video features a leatherneck with nothing more than hopes, dreams and fancy video-editing software. And he loves him some Lady Gaga:
Do you feel inspired now, too?
Commandant: Marines have passed the ‘tipping point’ in Sangin
February 18th, 2011 | Afghanistan Aviation Infantry MEU operations Sangin The CMC | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Marines with 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, fire an illumination mortar round from the Expeditionary Fire Support System on Feb. 5 -- one of the first times the weapon was used in combat. (Photo by Gunnery Sgt. Bryce Piper)
Commandant Gen. Jim Amos met with reporters for breakfast in Washington this morning, and as you’d probably expect, the conversation quickly turned to the war in Afghanistan.
Amos declined to discuss specifics about recent M1A1 Abrams tank operations, but said the bulk of them are in northeastern Helmand province, where Marines have been engaged with the Taliban since pushing into violent Sangin district in late summer. While the fighting was fierce this fall, he thinks the area has passed the “tipping point” at which it could easily go back to the way it was.
“The Taliban have been driven out,” he said. “Those that wanted to stay have been killed, and those who didn’t want to stay have squirted out.”
Amos also backed the decision to send about 1,400 members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., ashore last month from Navy ships to bolster forces in northern Helmand. Most of the MEU’s ground combat element, Battalion Landing Team 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, is now south of Sangin.
“If you have the enemy on its heels and he’s reacting to you,” he said, “you have the opportunity to reinforce that success, because it may be the opportunity to hammer the final nail in this thing, and we might not have to go back and fight in that same spot again.”
He added a cautionary note, however: “There will be hard times ahead. I’m not a Pollyanna about it.”
On the lighter side, Amos also discussed the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter program, which has faced developmental problems this year and was recently put on a two-year probationary period by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The commandant said he is actively involved in the program, likening himself to a certain Boston Celtics basketball legend.
“I’m going to become like Bill Russell was,” he said with a smile. “I’m going to be the player-coach.”
Marine tanks now assigned to 3/8 in Afghanistan
February 17th, 2011 | Afghanistan Infantry MEU operations Weapons | Posted by Dan Lamothe
A Marine M1A1 Abrams tank with 1st Tank Platoon, Delta Company, 1st Tank Battalion, provides overwatch security in the Upper Gereshk Valley. At least two platoons of tanks have been assigned to the unit. (Photo by Sgt. Jesse Johnson)
When the Marine Corps acknowledged last month that it would begin using U.S. tanks in the war in Afghanistan for the first time, one of the most obvious questions was simple: Where?
We’re starting to clear that up.
The Corps has released several photos recently that show that elements of at least two platoons from Delta Company, First Tank Battalion, out of Twentynine Palms, Calif., have joined Battalion Landing Team 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines. The ground combat element for the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, 3/8 was called off Navy ships last month to lock down the upper Gereshk Valley, an area of Helmand province between volatile Sangin district and Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital.
Details are scant, but Mills made it clear the Gereshk Valley is a priority in the shortterm. In the interview I mentioned here, he described it as one of the hotter spots Marines have operated in recently.
“We are still actively engaged in an area called Gereshk, which still has some pockets of resistance,” Mills said in a Feb. 14 interview posted on the DVIDS website. “Overall, within Sangin itself, we have seen a significant change in the level of violence, and we’re beginning to see a movement of locals to our side as they begin to understand the benefits of their cooperation with the government of Afghanistan.”
UPDATE: Marine Corps Times colleague Gidget Fuentes sat in today on a roundtable discussion in San Diego with Mills, who briefed from Afghanistan.
Mills said tank crews have fired the main guns on the M1A1 Abrams “more than once against enemy IED emplacers at long range.” As of Feb. 16, three tanks had struck IEDs. Two were left unscathed, and the third sustained damage to its tracks, which crews repaired a few hours later, he said.