Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit

equipment, to computers and other communications/electronics equipment.

• Medical Platoon—Though most of the medical services for the MEU (SOC) are provided by Navy doctors and corpsmen aboard ship, the MSSG has a small medical platoon staffed with Navy personnel to provide field support. It consists of one doctor and twenty Navy corpsmen, who provide a forward-aid-station function for the MEU (SOC), where they can resuscitate and stabilize the patients and then evacuate them back to the ships of the ARG for more definitive care.

Through the efforts of the MSSG and the resources of the ARG offshore, the MEU (SOC) is designed to sustain an operation of up to fifteen days duration. Beyond that, follow-on logistical support such as that of a MPSRON would be required to sustain further operations. Nevertheless, this makes the MEU (SOC) a highly capable and independent unit for short-duration operations. In fact, because of their relatively robust logistics capability compared to the units of other services, they are quite capable. For example, during a joint exercise during the summer of 1995, the 26th MEU (SOC) provided food (MREs) and water to a battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division that was taking part in an assault on an airfield. This is why folks like Lieutenant General Tony Zinni (the commander of I MEF) like to call units like the 26th MEU (SOC) 'self-licking ice cream cones!'

^{Captain C. C. 'Skip' Buchanan, the commander of Amphibious Squadron Four (PHIBRON 4), wearing his familiar blue coveralls in the wardroom of the USS Wasp (LHD-1), his flagship.}

^{JOHN D. GRESHAM}

Getting There: PHIBRON 4

In Chapter 6, we looked at the ships that make up the ARGs that carry MEU (SOC)s around the oceans of the world. The three ships of the ARG that carry the 26th MEU (SOC) around these days are assigned to Amphibious Squadron Four (PHIBRON 4), which is based out of the amphibious base at Little Creek, Virginia. Home-ported there are the USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41) and USS Shreveport (LPD-12). Because of her large size, the other ship of PHIBRON 4, USS Wasp (LHD-1), is based over at the main naval base at Norfolk, Virginia, next to the wharf where the supercarriers are berthed. PHIBRON 4 is commanded by Captain C. C. 'Skip' Buchanan. Skip Buchanan, another Naval Academy graduate (Class of 1967), is a sunny, well-rounded man. You can usually recognize him from his faded blue jumpsuit coveralls. He prefers to wear these whenever possible, rather than the more customary khaki uniforms. Short and stout, he is a quiet man who keeps to himself, and who likes to watch and listen before he speaks his mind. But when he does, people listen! The 1995/96 cruise of PHIBRON 4 was going to be his last, as he planned to retire in 1997. It was to be the end of a long and productive career, and he planned to end it in style with a highly successful cruise with the 26th MEU (SOC). The Navy ARG is commanded by an officer of the same rank as the MEU (SOC) it carries. This means that Skip Buchanan and Jim Battaglini work as a team, sharing both the powers and responsibilities that their jobs demand. Both commanders try to make things work as well as possible for the roughly five thousand personnel under their joint commands.

Today PHIBRON 4 is made up of just three ships, where just a few years ago there might have been five. The retirement of the LSTs and the great size and capacity of the Wasp (LHD-1) and Whidbey Island (LSD-41) have made this smaller ARG possible. Composed of only three amphibious ships (an LHD or LHA, an LSD, and an LPD), this is the kind of force that you will see as the Navy goes into the 21st century. Interestingly, if you add up the total of the various ship footprints, you will actually find that the three ships of today's ARGs provide an embarked Marine unit with a great deal more space than the earlier five-ship group.

In addition to the embarked MEU (SOC), there are some small units and equipment that are specific to the ARG. These include:

• HC-8—While technically not part of the 26th MEU (SOC)'s ACE, there is a two-aircraft detachment of UH-46D Sea Knight vertical-replenishment (VERTREP) helicopters from Navy Helicopter Combat Support Squadron Eight (HC-8—the 'Dragon Whales') out of NAS Norfolk, Virginia. Normally controlled by the ARG commander, these Navy Bullfrogs are used to support utility, replenishment, and 'Angel' search and rescue duties around the ships.

• VC-6, Detachment H—The ARG controls a detachment of U.S. Navy Pioneer UAVs. The five UAVs with their supporting equipment and personnel belong to Detachment H, fleet Composite Squadron Six (VC-6). While the Marines have two UAV companies operating their force of Pioneers, the Navy continues to have the two detachments which used to be based aboard the retired battleships Missouri (BB- 63) and Wisconsin (BB-64). One of these is based aboard the Shreveport (LPD-12) and provides the ARG/MEU (SOC) force with their own limited reconnaissance capability.

• SEAL Team—Organic to the ARG is a detachment from one of the U.S. Navy's Sea- Air-Land (SEAL) special-warfare teams. Their job is to provide physical security for the ships of the ARG when visiting foreign ports, as well as giving the ARG/MEU (SOC) team an additional reconnaissance and covert-action asset.

• Assault Craft Unit Two (ACU-2)—To provide ship-to-shore transport for the MEU (SOC), Captain Buchanan controls two LCUs from ACU-2 at the amphibious base located at Little Creek, Virginia. One is based aboard the USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41), while the other one operates from the USS Shreveport (LPD-12).

• Assault Craft Unit Four (ACU-4)—In addition to the LCUs, the ARG commander also controls three LCACs from ACU-4, also headquartered at the amphibious base in Little Creek, Virginia. These are based aboard USS Wasp (LHD-1).

• Beach Control Party—These are the famous 'Beachmasters' who run the receiving end of an amphibious landing. These parties, along with their Marine counterparts in the CSSE, have the job of getting personnel, vehicles, equipment, and supplies off the landing craft and into action.

Since you don't fit a unit like the 26th on to just one ship, even one like USS Wasp (LHD-1), you have to break it into pieces and load it carefully aboard the various ships of the ARG. This is the job of the combat cargo shops on each of the ships, as well as the MEU (SOC)'s S-4 section led by Major Arinello. These organizations work to pack everything and everyone aboard as tightly as possible, while still accessing it when the time for its use arrives.

^{Captain Ray Duffy, the commanding officer of USS Wasp (LHD-1), on the bridge of his ship.}

^{JOHN D. GRESHAM}

^{The official emblem of the USS Wasp (LHD-1).}

^{U.S. NAVY}

Let's look at how the 26th MEU (SOC) was loaded into the ships of PHIBRON 4 when they embarked at Camp Lejeune and Moorehead City, North Carolina, in late August of 1995:

• USS Wasp (LHD-1) —Commanded by Captain Raymond Duffy (Villanova, Class of 1970), the Wasp carries almost half of the personnel and equipment of the 26th, as well as the vast majority of the aircraft and support equipment. The breakdown looks something like this:

• ARG—The entire PHIBRON 4 staff and their supporting equipment is carried aboard the Wasp. In addition, the two HC-8 helicopters are based aboard, as well as the three embarked LCACs from ACU-4.

• CE—Almost the entire 26th MEU (SOC) headquarters and its supporting units are based aboard the Wasp.

^{The official emblem of the USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41).}