Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said officials can’t jump from doing nothing in Syria to sending in the Marines. U.S. officials must use a host of tools to bring about a political change there as well as deal with vast humanitarian suffering, which has left more than 9 million people in need of aid, she told NPR on Feb. 7. They can’t rush from no action to putting boots on the ground there, she said. “What President Obama has instructed all of us to do is just look under every stone, look at every tool that we…
Browsing: 26th MEU
HOBOKEN, N.J. — Residents of a community ravaged by this week’s super storm had some unexpected guests landing in one of their parks today in Sea Dragon-style. About 20 Marines and sailors left the amphibious assault ship WASP this morning and traveled to a city hit hard by Hurricane Sandy to help restore a ferry terminal that hasn’t been functional since the storm hit. The Marines were with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., which deployed Thursday in support of disaster relief efforts. After completing the work they needed to do in the harbor, the Marines and…
Last week during an interview with Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, the outgoing Marine commander of Regional Command-Southwest, I asked for his thoughts on something hanging over everyone’s head in Afghanistan: The planned drawdown of U.S. forces. It was the kind of question I asked because it’s what people in my job are supposed to do, even though there’s an understanding he couldn’t answer it directly. Here were his thoughts: That decision will be made at a level much above mine. The way I see it, there will be a thinning out, a gradual reduction of coalition forces within a given area…
More than 200 years ago, Marines made a name for themselves fighting the Barbary pirates at the shores of Tripoli. Could they be returning soon? The question at least needs to be asked, in light of the Pentagon’s acknowledgement today that they are repositioning naval forces off the coast of Libya — including its capital, Tripoli — as the security situation in the north African country continues to crumble. Conceptually, it’s a made-for-Marines special if ground operations are deemed necessary. Marine expeditionary units aboard Navy vessels are typically among the first involved in humanitarian operations, evacuations and other actions needed…
In retrospect, it makes complete sense. With 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, and other elements of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit recently called off Navy ships to join the fight in Afghanistan, the battalion has named one of its combat outposts something familiar, according to this news release: Ouellette. The name honors Cpl. Michael Ouellette, who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross earlier this year for actions with 3/8 in Afghanistan in 2009. A squad leader, he ignored fatal wounds sustained by an improvised explosive device in Now Zad district, directing his Marines’ fire and calling in for fire support. The lower half…
