bobdina
06-07-2009, 01:59 PM
Focus of Marine expeditionary units questioned
By Amy McCullough - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jun 7, 2009 9:35:48 EDT
Marine expeditionary units have provided aid to a tsunami-ravaged southeast Asia, conducted exercises in Djibouti aimed at improving the Corps’ amphibious capabilities and captured insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They are known as the “crown jewel” of the Corps and are considered a vital military capability. But the best way to use them was a hot topic of debate long before the 15th and 26th MEUs were among the first U.S. forces deployed to Afghanistan in 2001.
Since then, MEUs have routinely engaged in fighting on both fronts, either as a whole or as elements chopped off to other commands. Eight years later, as the Obama administration shifts its focus from the war in Iraq to Afghanistan, top military leaders say flexibility is still the greatest asset of strategic reserve forces such as the MEUs, and those units must be ready and waiting for the unexpected, not fully engaged in the fight.
But the Corps remains stretched thin after years of fighting, and some question whether 4,000 Marines floating in the middle of the ocean and 4,000 more working up for such deployments is the best use of their time.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said dwell time remains among his chief concerns, but keeping a sharp point on the tip of the spear is just as important.
“Every [U.S. Central Command] commander that I’ve dealt with in recent years, including the current one, is not anxious to commit his strategic reserve because you don’t know what’s going to happen possibly somewhere else,” Mullen said in a May 27 interview with Military Times reporters and editors.
Commandant Gen. James Conway has said he wants to see the Corps get to a 1:2 dwell time, meaning Marines will be deployed for seven months and home for 14 months. Although the force isn’t quite there, Mullen said he thinks it is improving.
“And I think, certainly, the commandant, in terms of providing forces, very much supports that, so from the joint perspective, I’m very comfortable with it at this point,” Mullen said. “And again, there is a built-in dwell time, but it’s nowhere close to 1:2, which is what we need right now.”
Marine expeditionary units have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan at least 13 times since the war on terrorism broke out, according to a search of Marine Corps Times’ archives.
Marines with the 13th MEU’s detachment of CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters left the unit in March, at CentCom’s request, and are flying combat support missions in Iraq. The MEU, which is attached to the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, just completed a weeklong amphibious ship-to-shore exercise in the Gulf of Aden and ashore at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti.
“The MEU is expected to execute any of its assigned missions, from the sea, within six hours of receiving an executive order,” Lt. Col. Tye Wallace, commanding officer, Battalion Landing Team 1/1, said in a statement released May 22 after the Djibouti exercise. “This means going directly into the fight from our ships. No one else does this. This is a unique capability that the Navy/Marine Corps team provides our nation. This allows our deployed naval forces to be relevant, responsive and ready for action.”
But being flexible isn’t always easy. Mullen said he knows the decision to remove the 13th MEU’s heavy-lift capability was a risk, but he said it was a risk worth taking.
Retired Lt. Col. Dakota Wood, now a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said such decisions can be restricting, but it doesn’t make the MEU useless.
“If you would remove that capability from the embarked Marine unit, it would dramatically shorten the ranges at which the Marine unit can operate and it would also significantly reduce the ability to sustain operations in the field,” Wood said. “It’s always a matter of how you accept risk and how you intend to employ it if you think there is a need for the reserve capability.”
Missions accomplished
Since 2001, Marine expeditionary units have played a significant role in Iraq and Afghanistan. A snapshot of their contributions:
• November 2001 — In a rare east-west pairing, the 15th and 26th MEUs combined to form Task Force 58. What followed was Operation Swift Freedom, the first U.S.-led, ground-holding operation in the war on terrorism. About 1,000 Marines from TF-58 landed in Afghanistan and established Camp Rhino, southwest of Kandahar.
• March 2003 — The 15th MEU seized the port towns of Umm Qasr and Az Zubayr, Iraq, to close supply routes and facilitate humanitarian assistance. The MEU then shifted to Nasiriyah, Iraq, where it occupied the Iraqi 11th Infantry Division Compound. The 15th MEU also participated in the rescue of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch.
• October 2003 — Elements of the 13th MEU completed humanitarian, anti-smuggling, security and stabilization operations in southern Iraq as part of Operation Sweeney.
• March 2004 — The 22nd MEU deployed to Afghanistan, traveling almost 500 miles to the remote region of Tarin Kowt, a rugged region known for drug and arms trafficking.
• June 2004 — The 24th MEU returned to Iraq during a turbulent time, conducting direct-action raids, hundreds of cordon-and-knock searches, and thousands of patrols and vehicle checkpoints in northern Babil and southern Baghdad provinces.
• July 2004 — After just weeks on the ground, the 11th MEU faced off against an insurgent militia in Najaf, Iraq. In August, after the battle ended, the MEU doled out money and contracts to help rebuild the city.
• January 2005 — The Okinawa-based 31st MEU provided security for Iraq’s first democratic elections.
• April 2005 — Elements of the 15th MEU conducted foot patrols in a rural area of southern Baghdad for a 10-day mission to disrupt insurgent activity.
• October 2005 — The 31st MEU conducted security and stability operations in Iraq’s western Anbar province.
• June 2007 — The 13th MEU conducted counterinsurgency operations in Anbar Province, Iraq.
• November 2007— The 15th MEU was ordered into Iraq to provide additional forces in Anbar. The unit was extended twice in Iraq.
• April 2008 —The 24th MEU arrived in Garmser, Afghanistan, to open a route to move troops south near the border with Pakistan. Although the deployment was expected to be short, the MEU was extended for several weeks after facing an influx of Taliban fighters.
By Amy McCullough - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jun 7, 2009 9:35:48 EDT
Marine expeditionary units have provided aid to a tsunami-ravaged southeast Asia, conducted exercises in Djibouti aimed at improving the Corps’ amphibious capabilities and captured insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They are known as the “crown jewel” of the Corps and are considered a vital military capability. But the best way to use them was a hot topic of debate long before the 15th and 26th MEUs were among the first U.S. forces deployed to Afghanistan in 2001.
Since then, MEUs have routinely engaged in fighting on both fronts, either as a whole or as elements chopped off to other commands. Eight years later, as the Obama administration shifts its focus from the war in Iraq to Afghanistan, top military leaders say flexibility is still the greatest asset of strategic reserve forces such as the MEUs, and those units must be ready and waiting for the unexpected, not fully engaged in the fight.
But the Corps remains stretched thin after years of fighting, and some question whether 4,000 Marines floating in the middle of the ocean and 4,000 more working up for such deployments is the best use of their time.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said dwell time remains among his chief concerns, but keeping a sharp point on the tip of the spear is just as important.
“Every [U.S. Central Command] commander that I’ve dealt with in recent years, including the current one, is not anxious to commit his strategic reserve because you don’t know what’s going to happen possibly somewhere else,” Mullen said in a May 27 interview with Military Times reporters and editors.
Commandant Gen. James Conway has said he wants to see the Corps get to a 1:2 dwell time, meaning Marines will be deployed for seven months and home for 14 months. Although the force isn’t quite there, Mullen said he thinks it is improving.
“And I think, certainly, the commandant, in terms of providing forces, very much supports that, so from the joint perspective, I’m very comfortable with it at this point,” Mullen said. “And again, there is a built-in dwell time, but it’s nowhere close to 1:2, which is what we need right now.”
Marine expeditionary units have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan at least 13 times since the war on terrorism broke out, according to a search of Marine Corps Times’ archives.
Marines with the 13th MEU’s detachment of CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters left the unit in March, at CentCom’s request, and are flying combat support missions in Iraq. The MEU, which is attached to the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, just completed a weeklong amphibious ship-to-shore exercise in the Gulf of Aden and ashore at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti.
“The MEU is expected to execute any of its assigned missions, from the sea, within six hours of receiving an executive order,” Lt. Col. Tye Wallace, commanding officer, Battalion Landing Team 1/1, said in a statement released May 22 after the Djibouti exercise. “This means going directly into the fight from our ships. No one else does this. This is a unique capability that the Navy/Marine Corps team provides our nation. This allows our deployed naval forces to be relevant, responsive and ready for action.”
But being flexible isn’t always easy. Mullen said he knows the decision to remove the 13th MEU’s heavy-lift capability was a risk, but he said it was a risk worth taking.
Retired Lt. Col. Dakota Wood, now a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said such decisions can be restricting, but it doesn’t make the MEU useless.
“If you would remove that capability from the embarked Marine unit, it would dramatically shorten the ranges at which the Marine unit can operate and it would also significantly reduce the ability to sustain operations in the field,” Wood said. “It’s always a matter of how you accept risk and how you intend to employ it if you think there is a need for the reserve capability.”
Missions accomplished
Since 2001, Marine expeditionary units have played a significant role in Iraq and Afghanistan. A snapshot of their contributions:
• November 2001 — In a rare east-west pairing, the 15th and 26th MEUs combined to form Task Force 58. What followed was Operation Swift Freedom, the first U.S.-led, ground-holding operation in the war on terrorism. About 1,000 Marines from TF-58 landed in Afghanistan and established Camp Rhino, southwest of Kandahar.
• March 2003 — The 15th MEU seized the port towns of Umm Qasr and Az Zubayr, Iraq, to close supply routes and facilitate humanitarian assistance. The MEU then shifted to Nasiriyah, Iraq, where it occupied the Iraqi 11th Infantry Division Compound. The 15th MEU also participated in the rescue of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch.
• October 2003 — Elements of the 13th MEU completed humanitarian, anti-smuggling, security and stabilization operations in southern Iraq as part of Operation Sweeney.
• March 2004 — The 22nd MEU deployed to Afghanistan, traveling almost 500 miles to the remote region of Tarin Kowt, a rugged region known for drug and arms trafficking.
• June 2004 — The 24th MEU returned to Iraq during a turbulent time, conducting direct-action raids, hundreds of cordon-and-knock searches, and thousands of patrols and vehicle checkpoints in northern Babil and southern Baghdad provinces.
• July 2004 — After just weeks on the ground, the 11th MEU faced off against an insurgent militia in Najaf, Iraq. In August, after the battle ended, the MEU doled out money and contracts to help rebuild the city.
• January 2005 — The Okinawa-based 31st MEU provided security for Iraq’s first democratic elections.
• April 2005 — Elements of the 15th MEU conducted foot patrols in a rural area of southern Baghdad for a 10-day mission to disrupt insurgent activity.
• October 2005 — The 31st MEU conducted security and stability operations in Iraq’s western Anbar province.
• June 2007 — The 13th MEU conducted counterinsurgency operations in Anbar Province, Iraq.
• November 2007— The 15th MEU was ordered into Iraq to provide additional forces in Anbar. The unit was extended twice in Iraq.
• April 2008 —The 24th MEU arrived in Garmser, Afghanistan, to open a route to move troops south near the border with Pakistan. Although the deployment was expected to be short, the MEU was extended for several weeks after facing an influx of Taliban fighters.