Water scarcity, regional conflict zones, and the “youth bulge:” these are all problems that may become the Marine Corps’ business in the near future. That was the message from Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos this week when he gave an audience at the Navy League’s Sea Air Space expo a glimpse into what’s ahead for the Corps. By 2020, he said, expect two new crisis Marine Corps crisis response forces positioned near potential conflict zones and a rotational force established in Guam like the one already conducting training deployments in Australia. Amos also indicated that the future of the Corps…
Browsing: Africa
Check out what Marines are up to around the world, as of Aug. 7: [HTML1]
Marine Corps Times published my story last night correcting the record about Col. George Bristol, a Marine colonel who led a special operations task force in northern Africa the night of the attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Despite Pentagon claims that he is retired and can’t be ordered to testify about them, he remains on active duty through the end of the month, Marine officials said Wednesday. As the Weekly Standard points out today, Rep. Frank Wolf, R.-Va., took to the House floor this morning angry about the issue. Check the video: [HTML1] Wolf said trusted…
The Marine Corps has reached a transition point in Libya, replacing reserve Marines who had protecting the U.S. embassy compound in the capital city of Tripoli with active-duty forces from Camp Lejeune, N.C., officials said. The reserve Marines were with Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Africa, a unit established in 2011 primarily to train friendly military forces in the region. Its home base is Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy. The last iteration of SPMAGTF-Africa deployed in January, and send a reinforced platoon to protect the embassy, the unit’s commander, Lt. Col. Daniel Whisnant, told Marine Corps Times in March.…
The storied “Nightmares” are set to deactivate this summer after 69 years of service during which the unit’s Marines saw combat in the Pacific, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Formally designated Marine Attack Squadron 513, the unit which flies AV-8B Harriers out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., will be deactivated July 12, 2013 after their most recent deployment to Asia which concluded with their participation in Exercise Foal Eagle. The annual exercise is among the largest in the world and aims to strengthen interoperability between South Korean and U.S. forces in the region. The unit deployed to Asia…
[HTML1] Take a look at what Marines are doing around the globe in our newly updated Status of Forces map! Highlights include: Marines in Darwin, Australia conducting squad-attack exercises at a place called “Kangaroo Flats” Some lucky Marines doing coalition exercises with French partners in kayaks in the Mediterranean Urban crisis contingency training with local counterparts at Mihail Kogalniceanu Military Base, Romania. Major moves: About 160 reserve troops from Camp Lejeune’s R4OG (Retrograde and Redeployment in Support of Reset and Reconstitution Operations Group) deployed to Afghanistan this month, replacing an R4OG from Camp Pendleton. About 200 Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air…
One week after the deployment of the Marine Corps’ new crisis-response force for Africa began, additional details about it are starting to surface. The six MV-22B Ospreys supporting the unit are from Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 365, out of Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., according to a Marine Corps news release published today. Elements of the unit, commanded by Lt. Col. Christian Harshberger, arrived at Morón Air Base, Spain, on Saturday after making a 15-hours transcontinental flight from the U.S. They arrived with two KC-130J tanker planes that will support the unit during the deployment. Commandant Gen. Jim Amos…
[HTML1] Status of Forces (as of April 19) Active duty: 194,370 Selected Reserve: 39,705 Reservists on active duty: 2,477 It’s been awhile since we did a blog update on the status of forces around the Marine Corps, but we’re going to start in again on making this a weekly feature. The positions above are as of April 19. Of note, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Units and 15th MEU are moving through their areas of operations, with the 26th MEU’s Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group near the Gulf of Aden, at the eastern tip of Africa, and the 15th MEU’s Peleliu ARG…
Marines are definitely getting back to their expeditionary roots. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit just returned to Camp Lejeune, N.C., following a seven month deployment. But as Marine Corps Times’ Gidget Fuentes reported, when the 24th MEU was still in the Persian Gulf, there were more Marines on Navy ships than in the combat zone in Afghanistan in late-October. That’s a pretty interesting shift. Check out the map below to see what Marines are doing around the world. [HTML1]
The Marine Corps Times interactive map showing what Marines are doing around the world has been updated with new information provided by public affairs for the week ending Oct. 5. [HTML1]
