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: Pacific issues
The Marine Corps has provided two water purification units for use in the Philippines as the military there assists with relief efforts following an earthquake that left more than 140 people dead. A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Bohol Island in the central Philippines on Tuesday. Buildings and roads have been destroyed, and the death toll has reached 144. The Armed Forces of the Philippines requested two water purification units the Marine Corps has staged there, said Chuck Little, a spokesman for Marine Corps Forces Pacific. The request came from the Assistant J7 of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The units will…
This Fall The 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit will become the first West Coast MEU to deploy with the Osprey. Set for a pump through the Asia-Pacific region, the 13th MEU will depart with a compliment of 12 MV-22 Ospreys aboard the amphibious assault ship Boxer, according to a Navy news release. The aircraft will be piloted and maintained by Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 166 out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif. While the 13th MEU is not the first to have ever deployed with the Osprey, it is the first that will take it afloat in the Pacific — the…
In a joint press conference with Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera at the Pentagon Monday afternoon, Defense Secretary confirmed that the Marines would land a second squadron of MV-22 Ospreys in the country this summer. The move, Hagel said, would increase U.S. capabilities in the region at a time in which the U.S. was intentionally pivoting its military focus to the Asia-Pacific region. Onodera added more details about the move. “Secretary Hagel and I confirmed that government’s plans to land U.S. 12 MV-22s of the second squadron of MV-22 through MCAS Iwakuni this summer and then move them to MCAS…
The second group of Marines to rotate through Australia arrived in Darwin Sunday night for the start of their six-month tour. U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich greeted about 200 Marines with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, after their Boeing 737 landed, according to a Marine Corps news release. The members of 3/3 are based out of Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Bleich said he met with Darwin government officials last week, and they were enthusiastic about the Marines coming back to town. When members of Fox Company, 2/3, were in Darwin last year, it was estimated that they boosted the local economy…
For years, Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command has received attention mostly for its actions in Afghanistan. It’s far from the only theater the elite force has teams in, however. From Africa to the Pacific, Marine special operators have deployed across the globe to work, mostly in the shadows. This week’s Marine Corps Times cover story takes a look at those missions, focusing closely on one high-speed rescue in the Philippines. I caught wind of the rescue recently during a dinner in Washington, D.C., and MARSOC provided enough details afterward to make it clear how dangerous special operations can be,…
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]
When the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit sets sail aboard three Navy ships from San Diego, Calif., on Monday, its departure will mark the start of the final stateside MEU deployment for the Marine Corps’ fleet of CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters. The tandem rotor helicopter, nicknamed the Battle Phrog for its quirky silhouette, is getting replaced by the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor, and the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based 15th MEU will be the last stateside MEU to deploy with the Phrogs as part of its aviation combat element. The next unit that follows, the 13th MEU, is slated to have an Osprey squadron…
This year’s deployment of a Marine infantry company, the first in what will become a larger rotation of units to Australia, has garnered lots of attention Down Under and throughout South Asia as officials and analysts lauded or questioned the larger strategic reasons, namely China’s rising influence and expanding military, for the new quasi-permanent U.S. military presence. Gen. Jim Amos, visiting the Australian Army’s Robertson Barracks that’s been the main garrison for the deployed Marines with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, praised the benefits of these renewed U.S-Aussie ties and dismissed any notions the deployments were an attempt to…
The recent arrival of a company of Hawaii-based Marines in Darwin, Australia, stirred up some unfavorable sentiments on the continent and around the region. Now comes former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, who apparently is quite unhappy about seeing any more Marines Down Under. Fraser, who led the nation-continent for eight years until 1983, complained that “over 20 years now we have given the impression of doing that which America wants. We seem to believe that our security can be best assured if we do what we can to win brownie points with the U.S. This is a mistaken assumption.”…
