Bold Alligator a lesson for Marines in cramped quarters
February 8th, 2012 | Blue-Green operations Embedded journalism Life at Sea MEU operations | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Marines squeeze by each other in a narrow passageway aboard the amphibious assault ship Wasp on Monday. It has served as the command ship during Bold Alligator 2012, an amphibious exercise involving more than 14,000 personnel. (Mike Morones/Staff)
When it comes to a large-scale amphibious operation like Bold Alligator, it isn’t just the movement to shore that can provide learning lessons.
The thousands of personnel who deployed off the coast of North Carolina for the exercise also got a first-hand lesson in life at sea. That may not be new to most of the sailors and some of the Marines on board, but for thousands more, it certainly was.
Point in case: the photograph above shows how tight the passageways aboard the amphibious assault ship Wasp are. It takes a mindful eye to avoid collisions, spills and other hassles while maneuvering the vessel, and many service members underway weren’t aware of that until they arrived.
There’s also the matter of berthing. Like many ships, the 41,000-ton Wasp has bunks that are packed tightly together in stacks between three and five high. There is less than three feet between the stacks, and not enough room to roll over in a bunk without rapping your knees on the bunk above. And that’s to say nothing of the bathrooms, one of which flooded while we were there.
None of this was news to the folks planning Bold Alligator, but it was to many of the rank-and-file personnel on board. I listened with amusement over the weekend as two staff sergeants had an animated debate over whether it was more comfortable to be sleeping on a cot in Afghanistan, or on a bunk on the Wasp. One Marine advocated the merits of having more space in large tent, while the other noted that at least they weren’t sleeping somewhere with a dirt floor.
Sailors and Marines line up for chow on the mess deck aboard the amphibious assault ship Wasp on Sunday. (Mike Morones/Staff)
There’s also the logistical headaches. On Monday, we hopped a CH-53 helicopter with several other members of the media and a few Marines expecting to reach the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima for additional news coverage. Following original plans, the helo made its way back to the shore in North Carolina at the air stations in New River and Cherry Point to pick up more supplies.
When it returned to sea, however, the pilot ran into unexpected complications. He had anticipated landing on the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge, but the flight deck was full, we were told. We moved on to the Iwo Jima, only to discover that its flight deck had been “fouled,” meaning something on its surface prevented landings. We returned to the Wasp at dusk, after more than two hours of flying in a circle.
Those are the breaks, to a large extent. They’re similar to transportation headaches I’ve seen in Afghanistan, in that schedules can shift rapidly and affect personnel on the ground.
For folks who expected everything to go smoothly, however, it simply wasn’t going to happen.
Operation Bold Alligator 2012 underway
February 5th, 2012 | Battle Rattle Blue-Green operations Embedded journalism Life at sea Life at Sea MEU operations Training | Posted by Dan Lamothe
A Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) approaches the well deck of the amphibious assault ship Wasp on Saturday as part of rehearsals for an amphibious landing during Bold Alligator 2012. (Mike Morones / Staff)
ABOARD THE AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIP WASP — Greetings from the Atlantic Ocean, where we’re covering the largest amphibious exercise on the East Coast since the beginning of the Iraq war.
Bold Alligator 2012 involves at least 14,000 personnel from the U.S., France, Great Britain and other countries, and at least 25 ships. The majority of them are American, but Canada and France have both chipped in with their own hardware, as well.
Conceptually, the forces at sea are currently in the early stages of planning an attack on enemy forces from the fictional country of Garnet, a common enemy in what military officers call the “Treasure Coast” scenario. A mechanized Garnetian division has invaded the neighboring country of Amber, and is pushing north toward Amberland, which has asked for coalition assistance to stop advance. Garnet already has mined several harbors and established anti-ship missiles on the coastline, military officials said.
In reality, Bold Alligator will require naval officers to think on their feet to develop strategy and defeat their fictional enemy. They’ll be tested on how they do, and be forced to adapt to real-world changes ranging from scheduling mishaps to bad weather. An amphibious raid will be launched from several ships and coordinated from the Wasp over the next couple of days.
Exploring the ship, it’s clear that many of the Marines on board have been to sea only a few times until Bold Alligator, if ever. For example, Sgt. Michael McDaniel told me that he deployed with 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., to Iraq for both the initial push to Baghdad in 2003 and urban combat in Fallujah in 2004-05. He’s still with the unit, and has never participated in an amphibious exercise on this scale.
“We’re down here for quite a few hours every day doing maintenance,” he said in Wasp’s well deck, over the clanks, scrapes and groans of Marines moving and cleaning vehicles and weapons. “As long as we stay on top of maintenance, everything should be pretty good.”
Bold Alligator has significant attention from some of the top officers in the Navy and Marine Corps. On board Saturday was Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations; Gen. Joseph Dunford, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps; Lt. Gen. John Paxton, commanding general of II Marine Expeditionary Force; and Lt. Gen. Dennis Hejlik, commander of Marine Corps Forces Command; and Vice Adm. David Buss, deputy commander of Fleet Forces Command. That’s in addition to Rear Adm. Kevin Scott and Brig. Gen. Christopher Owens, who are leading the exercise from the Wasp.
The exercise also has attracted attention in Congress. At least four members of the House were here Saturday, including Rep. Buck McKeon, R.-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
To the extent possible, photographer Mike Morones and I will keep posting updates from the exercise, which we’ll be covering for the next several days. As you might expect at sea, Internet service has been spotty. However, a “Super Bowl Bash” is listed on the ship’s plan of the day Sunday. As a Massachusetts native and Patriots fan, that suits me just fine.
At sea, a place of their own
November 11th, 2011 | Blue-Green operations Food Life at Sea Marine Raiders MEU operations | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
Marines heading out to sea in any of the Navy’s fleet of amphibious ships get quickly and acutely familiar with a few spaces inside those large gray warfighting hulls: their berthing space, the ship’s gym and the enlisted mess decks.
Carlson Cafe aboard amphibious assault ship Makin Island, was busy at lunchtime during at-sea training last month. The cozy section of the much-larger enlisted mess decks is named after a legendary Marine Raider. (Gidget Fuentes/staff)
There’s usually nothing spectacular about those spaces, which are often crowded and offer little in the way of physical privacy or familiar comforts of home. But aboard Makin Island, the Navy’s newest big-deck amphibious assault ship and homeported in San Diego, what would have been some storage area off the main mess decks has been remade into a cozier space with a more intimate “cafe” feel.
Unlike the fluorescent-lit, Navy-blue color schemes more typical of ships’ mess decks, this area called “Carlson Cafe” features walls wrapped in paneling, blue vinyl-covered bar stools and booths and tables topped with the Mandarin phrase of “Gung Ho” on red vinyl.
The cafe, which is opened during the ship’s meal hours for E-6s and below, is named for the late and innovative Lt. Col. Evans F. Carlson, one of the more colorful leaders among the Marine Corps’ small but elite World War II force known as Marine Raiders. Carlson had served in China and adopted the phrase “gung ho,” which means “working together” in Mandarin, for his men of 2nd Raider Battalion known as Carlson’s Raiders. They and another group of men – “Edson’s Raiders” of 1st Raider Battalion led by Col. Merritt Edson – were formed in February 1942 and quickly deployed to fight in the island campaigns in the Pacific. Their legacy was short-lived – the Marine Corps disestablished its four Raider battalions two years after their formation – but the more than 8,000 men who earned the title were pivotal to the Marine Corps’ development of its unique amphibious warfare capabilities and its reconnaissance, force recon and special operations communities.
The Carlson Cafe includes a growing collection of Raider memorabilia. News clips and movie posters, including of the 1943 flick “Gung Ho” that told the story of Carlson’s Raiders, hang on the wall. Wooden cases display Carlson’s combat medals and a period uniform. “They’ve got room to grow,” noted Navy Senior Chief (SW/AW) Donnie Ryan, the ship’s public affairs chief. “Gung Ho” is designed into the table coverings. Sconces on the walls can provide some “mood” lighting, an improvement on a ship where glaring overhead fluorescent lights are the norm.
That may be welcomed once Makin Island leaves San Diego Nov. 14 on its maiden deployment, leaving a force of three amphibious ships, including dock landing ship Pearl Harbor and amphibious transport dock New Orleans with Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit for the Persian Gulf and Western Pacific regions.