The Pacific

First West Coast MEU to deploy with Osprey this fall

By James Sanborn on August 7, 2013 Battle Rattle, Deployments, MEU operations, Pacific issues, The Pacific

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…

Hagel confirms: second V-22 squadron headed to Japan

By Hope Hodge Seck on April 30, 2013 Aviation, Battle Rattle, Japan, Marines, Pacific issues, Pentagon, Safety, The Pacific

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…

Jungle cuisine: Marines wash down insects with snake blood during Cobra Gold

By Gina Harkins on February 21, 2013 Allies and training, III MEF, Marines, The Pacific

Marines participating in exercise Cobra Gold took the concept of tasting the local cuisine to new levels when they sliced open a freshly caught cobra and drank its blood. With the pivot to the Asia-Pacific region, Marines could soon find themselves spending more time in jungle environments. About 5,000 members of III Marine Expeditionary Force are participating in Cobra Gold 2013, a joint multinational exercise based out of Thailand. In addition to local troops there, they are working with military members from Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia. Thai troops were giving Marines a lesson on jungle survival, which…

Iron Fist: Japanese forces take to the desert with Marines

By Gidget Fuentes on February 5, 2013 Allies and training, Camp Pendleton, I MEF, Japan, Marines, The Pacific

Members of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton, Calif., joined Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces for this year’s “Iron Fist” exercise, held in Southern California. The three-week interoperability training exercise has the combined forces training on this side of the Pacific along the coast, in the desert, out at sea and back ashore as the Marines and soldiers hone their warfighting skills with patrolling, assaults, mechanized attacks and live-fire and maneuver drills. This is the eighth year for the bilateral training, which “promises to be bigger and better than in previous years,” Maj. Gen. Melvin G. Spiese, the I Marine Expeditionary Force deputy…

Marine Corps Times deployment map as of Oct. 31

By Gina Harkins on October 31, 2012 Afghanistan, Africa, Battle Rattle, Camp Lejeune, I MEF, Japan, Life at sea, Marines, MEU operations, Pacific issues, The Pacific

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]

At sea, 31st MEU and 15th MEU ready to help

By Gidget Fuentes on October 5, 2012 Allies and training, Blue-Green operations, MEU operations, The Pacific

Natural disasters like typhoons and heavy storms that lead to mudslides are no stranger to the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines, which sees almost annual devastation from Mother Nature from heavy rains and winds. When that happens, the Marine Corps and the Navy sometimes get the call to respond and help in what’s been a long-running relationship well predating the so-called “pivot” to the Pacific. Starting Oct. 8, Marines and sailors with the Okinawa, Japan-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, currently aboard amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, will join with Philippine military forces for a two-week bilateral exercise in the Philippines…

Give me liberty – but where?

By Gidget Fuentes on September 2, 2011 Life at sea, MEU operations, Off-duty, The Pacific

Will it be Hong Kong? Or Australia? For some 4,000 Marines and sailors aboard three amphibious ships on the homestretch of an overseas deployment, liberty this holiday weekend means they will get to spend their days, nights and dollars in Hong Kong and Australia. The crew of amphibious transport dock Green Bay is making its maiden operational deployment, and embarked Marines with 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit get to stretch their legs in Darwin, Australia. Darwin sits in the continent’s north-central coast. It’s a tropical city on the Timor Sea and the capital of the Northern Territory, a sparse region most known for…

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