supporting operations in Mombassa for humanitarian relief at Entebbe, Uganda, and in Rwanda for victims of the Rwandan Civil War.
• October 1994—The 15th MEU (SOC), again based around the USS
These movements represented almost half of the MEU deployments that year. What does that mean? If you are a deployed Sea Marine, you have a better than even chance of seeing some sort of crisis. This is the lot of today's deployed Marines.
Tools of the Trade: Marine Units
The Marine Corps is the only branch of the armed services whose size and structure are spelled out in the United States Code, by Public Law 416 of the 82nd Congress (1952),[8] which states that the Corps shall be composed, at a minimum, of three division-sized ground units and three Marine Air Wings (MAWs). The 1st and 2nd Divisions each have about eighteen thousand Marines. But the 3rd Division, split between Hawaii and Okinawa, is down below ten thousand. Each MAW has about 250 aircraft (fighters, attack aircraft, helicopters, etc.). Along with the combat units, there are service and support units to provide supply and equipment maintenance. Backing the whole Marine Corps is a large segment of the U.S. Navy (nicknamed the 'Gator Navy) with the duty of transporting Marines and supporting them in their assigned missions.
The total active-duty strength (as of 1996) of 174,000 Marines is parceled out to the three divisions and three MAWs, as well as various supporting units. The Marine Reserve includes an additional 108,500 people (approximately), spread among units around the country. Reserve units are used to augment active units when they deploy. Each division includes an artillery regiment and two or three Regimental Landing Teams (RLTs), each of which contains several Battalion Landing Teams (BLTs). Each RLT usually has three BLTs under its command, each with about one thousand Marines. But RLTs provide the BLTs used to make MEUs, so a Marine division commander is usually short a battalion or two. In addition, other units are frequently detached to support peacekeeping and humanitarian operations.
Thus, to view the Corps as three monolithic division-sized blocks on the battlefield is not realistic. Desert Storm saw the largest Marine ground force that can probably be assembled in one place, when General Walt Boomer commanded the two divisions of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF). In addition, almost every Marine unit in the world was gutted to deliver that force into battle. In fact, if the late Kim II Sung had wanted to take South Korea, his last, best chance was probably in January 1991, when most of the deployable U.S. forces were facing Iraq!
The basic building block of Marine operations is the BLT, which is a rifle battalion of over 900 men, with attached units bringing it up to a total of 1,200 to 1,300 Marines. The BLT is probably the smallest unit the Corps would deploy into a crisis area. Commanded by a lieutenant colonel (O-5), it is a task-oriented team that can attach or detach units, as the mission requires. For example, the basic BLT, with three Marine rifle companies, might gain a platoon of four M1A1 tanks or a company of wheeled Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs) to beef up its combat muscle. The BLT normally has a reconnaissance platoon and a sniper platoon added to provide intelligence to the commander and his staff. Amphibious tractor or rubber boat companies might also be attached, depending upon the assigned mission. Marine units tend to be tailored for specific mission requirements, and are supremely flexible in both organization and equipment.
The Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF)
Whatever a Marine unit is tasked to do, it would operate as part of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force or MAGTF. The MAGTF is the basic working task unit of the Marines, a concept that has been at the core of operations by the Corps for over half a century. It combines an infantry-heavy ground component — anything from one BLT to several divisions — with supporting artillery and other heavy weapons. Attached is an air component — anything from a reinforced squadron of helicopters and attack fighters to several full Marine Air Wings (MAWs). The entire MAGTF has a logistical service and support component to provide supplies and maintenance. All of this is melded into a single team commanded by a senior Marine officer, anything from a colonel to a lieutenant general.
MAGTFs come in a variety of shapes and sizes, depending on how big a commitment the President of the United States cares to make. For example, during the early stages of Operation Desert Shield following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, the Marine Corps deployed the 7th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) based at Twenty-nine Palms, California. The 7th MEB had four infantry battalions, a light armored infantry battalion, a brigade service support group, and a reinforced Marine Air Group (MAG). By November 1990, the force had quadrupled in size, and come under the headquarters of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), which included all of the 1st Marine Division from Camp Pendleton, California, the 3rd Marine Air Wing from El Toro, California, the 1st Force Service Support Group (FSSG), and other reinforcements from active and Reserve Marine units around the world. By the start of the ground war in February 1991, the 1st MEF mustered over seventy thousand Marines. Throughout the Persian Gulf deployment, the Marine force was a fully integrated MAGTF, with all of the necessary components to enter combat. In this particular case, the Marines of the 1st MEF were under the command of Lieutenant General Boomer, who reported to General Schwarzkopf, Commander-in-Chief of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). Another seventeen thousand Marines of the 4th and 5th MEBs were afloat in the Gulf, and came under the command of the Navy's 7th Fleet.
While the division-sized MEFs have made most of the headlines for the Corps in the last five years, it is the smaller, battalion-sized MEUs that do most of the day-in, day-out work. Their rapid mobility aboard the ships of their Amphibious Ready Groups (ARGs) and their ability to rapidly adapt to assigned missions make them popular among Washington politicians. This explains why, in a time of severe budget restrictions, funding for a 7th unit of the
America needs the capabilities of the Marines and their MEUs; they buy time and provide options that airborne divisions and heavy bombers just cannot provide. Marines of the 24th MEU (SOC) were able to stand by on just twenty minutes notice, for over a week, to rescue Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady from Bosnia following his shootdown by a surface-to-air missile (SAM). Presence is important. In the mind of a potential aggressor, the idea of 1,500 Marines sitting off his coast has a calming effect. It may make him stop, think, and decide, 'Well…not today.' No dictator, warlord, or international thug wants 1,500 heavily armed, well-trained, and uninvited guests dropping by suddenly to adjust his attitude. That, in the end, is why we need sea-based Marines.
In chapters that follow, I'll try to give you a feel for the 'nuts and bolts' of a MEU (SOC), its people, equipment, and organization. We'll have a chance to talk with the Corps' top Marine, and get to know how a young person becomes one of the 'brothers and sisters.' In addition, you'll see the equipment that is used by the sea Marines, as well as spend some time with one of the MEU (SOC)s that helps maintain forward presence for the United States. By the time we are done, I think you will have a feeling for how the Marines do their vital jobs, and why they can proudly bark their motto, 'Semper Fi!' ('Always Faithful!'), when asked how things are in
