24th MEU sees float extended

[thedrifter]

24th MEU sees float extended

By ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF
The Camp Lejeune-based 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, now in the Persian Gulf, has been ordered to stay in the region for an additional six weeks, officials said Wednesday. The unit?s approximately 2,200 Marines and sailors left in August for a regularly scheduled six-month deployment and were planning to return in mid-March.



The MEU entered the Persian Gulf in January.



?I have just received official word that due to the crisis in the area, the 24th MEU will be extended on float for six weeks,? said the unit?s commander Col. Richard Mills.



?While exact dates are classified, our new schedule will get us home in late April or very early May.?



The extension boosts the number of Marines from North Carolina who are in the Persian Gulf.



At least 17,000 of the 18,500 members of the II Marine Expeditionary Force deployed are near or headed to the region.



In early January, two groups of about 900 leathernecks with 2nd Force Service Support Group headed to the Middle East and are likely paving the way for two other waves of troops numbering 7,000 each.



In mid-January, approximately 7,000 members of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade left the East Coast aboard seven ships.



The week of their departure, 7,000 more Marines ? 4,000 from the 2nd FSSG and 3,000 combat troops from the 2nd Marine Division ? received deployment orders.



They spent at least two weeks loading equipment aboard cargo ships at state ports in Morehead City and Wilmington and Southport?s Military Ocean Terminal at Sunny Point.



On Saturday, about 250 military longshoremen and truck drivers from the 2nd FSSG left Camp Lejeune marking the first of many in this second group of 7,000 to leave the U.S. in the upcoming weeks.



These troop movements also included members of the 2nd Marine Division, Camp Lejeune spokesman Staff Sgt. Jay Connolly confirmed Wednesday.



The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit is the next MEU scheduled to leave Lejeune. The unit is still scheduled to go in March, said 26th MEU spokesman Capt. James Jarvis.



Waiting in the wings is the 22nd MEU, but part of that unit has been tapped by the deployed 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. The brigade is using the 22nd MEU?s infantry battalion, helicopter squadron, MEU service support group and three ships in the USS Saipan Amphibious Ready Group.



The 22nd MEU had plans for its standard small-unit infantry training normally conducted at Fort A.P. Hill, Va., and was scheduled to work with Navy counterparts aboard amphibious assault ships in March. Both training evolutions are in question.



Officials have yet to announce who will join the command element of the 22nd MEU to make it a viable 2,200-person force that was scheduled to deploy in summer.



?No one has been identified yet, and we don?t have our units or ships, so we are doing ground training of the command element such as going to the range, the gas chamber and water survival training.? said 22nd MEU spokesman Gunnery Sgt. Keith Milks.



Contact Eric Steinkopff at esteinkopff@jdnews.com or at 353-1171, Ext. 236.


Sempers,

Roger