Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit

maintenance, and fix any problems they can.

Final Phase (8 Weeks)

The Final Phase is long and brutal. During the two weeks of the SOCEX, the sailors and Marines of the MEU (SOC) must prove to the observers of the SOTG that they are qualified for certification as special operations capable.

• Pre-Embarkation Maintenance Stand-Down—A short, realistic stand-down for the sailors and Marines. The idea is to get their equipment loaded and ready as if they were leaving on an actual deployment.

• ARG Advanced Amphibious Training — Just prior to the SOCEX, key members of the ARG staff and ships' crews are given final training to assist with advanced amphibious warfare techniques. The training targets communications, navigation, fire-support operations, and many of the other procedures that make 'gator warfare so risky and dangerous.

• FLEETEX and Special Operations Capable Exercise (SOCEX—The FLEETEX/SOCEX is the final examination and certification for the MEU (SOC) and ARG. Run over a period of days, the exercises consist of a series of no-notice missions, all of which require use of rapid planning and briefing techniques. Each of these missions must be executed within six hours of the reception of the alert order, with only minimum safety margins for weather and other conditions as an excuse for delay. Sometimes the missions are allowed to go to full execution. Other times, the MEU (SOC) is ordered to hold the mission at the start-up point for a period of hours or days, while other missions are run. After successfully completing the SOCEX, the MEU (SOC) and ARG are fully certified as capable of heading out on deployment, and are only a matter of weeks from being sent to a potential combat zone.

• Pre-Overseas Movement—Soon after the completion of the SOCEX, all the unit's vehicles, equipment, and personnel are staged, either to their home base (such as Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, or Camp Pendleton, California) of the MEU (SOC), or the port of embarkation (such as Norfolk, Virginia, or San Diego, California) onto the ships of the ARG.

• Crisis Interaction Requirements Exercise—One of the last bits of preparation for the leadership of the force is a tabletop war game. Keyed to fast-breaking situations, the exercise is designed to hone the crisis-response and management skills of the various leaders within the MEU (SOC), the ARG, and JSOC.

• Area Commanders Brief—The final act before deployment is a series of area briefings for the ARG and MEU (SOC) commanders. Usually these are run by the various agencies (Department of State, Joint Staff, Headquarters Marine Corps, CIA, DIA, NSA, NRO, etc.) in the Washington, D.C., area. Conducted just days before the ARG/MEU (SOC) deploys, the briefings are designed to give the unit's leadership an up-to-the- minute view of the area that they are headed in to.

Getting Ready: The Summer of '95

During the summer of 1995, I made a series of visits to the 26th as well as PHIBRON 4, and had the opportunity to watch the team get ready. It was an exciting set of experiences.

^{A pair of HMM-264 helicopters prepare to take off from the after helicopter spots of USS Wasp (LHD-1).}

^{JOHN D. GRESHAM}

Onslow Bay, Off Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, June 16th, 1995

My first visit to the 26th MEU (SOC) and PHIBRON 4 came during the Intermediate Phase of their workup process. After a short early morning flight down from Andrews AFB, Maryland, to MCAS New River, North Carolina, I boarded a big CH-53E Super Stallion for the ride out to the USS Wasp (LHD-1). Donning a 'Mickey Mouse' helmet with ear protection and a life preserver, I sat down on the web seating, and hung on. The weather, while warm and humid, was decidedly raw, with a stiff breeze coming in off the bay. All this was from the tail end of another summer storm, one of many the East Coast had recently endured. On the way out, the helicopter passed over the Whidbey Island and Shreveport, which were standing just a few thousand yards offshore. The ride took only about twenty minutes, and as the helicopter circled into the landing pattern I got my first look at Wasp. It's big! Wasp is to ordinary ships as Australia is to ordinary islands. Moments later, with a swing onto the landing spot, the helicopter thumped down, and I quickly exited. At the direction of one of the deck handlers, I moved to the starboard side of the flight deck, and entered a hatch on the port side of the huge island structure.

After removing my helmet and life preserver, I was greeted by Gunnery Sergeant Tim Schearer, the MEU (SOC) PAO, and Major Dennis Arinello, the S-4 (logistics) officer. Moving to a VIP arrival area, I was hit by a wave of cold air from the ship's incredible air-conditioning/Collective Protection System (CPS). After a round of introductions and quick admonitions about what not to touch, I was guided down into the 02 Level to one of the small wardrooms near the officers mess area. After an excellent dinner of shrimp stir-fried (Wasp's mess specialists are quite good), I was taken to the Flag Briefing and Planning Room, which is adjacent to the Landing Force Operations Center (LFOC), for a briefing by Colonel Battaglini and Captain Buchanan. There I was also introduced to Captain Raymond Duffy, the commanding officer of Wasp.

Ray Duffy is a jolly-looking surface warfare officer, who has spent most of his career in destroyers and amphibious ships. He is especially proud of his current ship, and rightly so, since the Wasp- class vessels are the largest surface combatants in the U.S. fleet. Backing him up was Wasp's Executive Officer (XO) Captain Stan Greenawalt, a naval flight officer who previously commanded a squadron of S-3 Viking ASW aircraft down in Florida. Stan was the gent who watched over the ship for Captain Duffy, and had all the 'heavy' jobs where the ship's personnel were concerned. A man of medium build, he kept his office and stateroom on the starboard side of the 02 Level always open, with coffee and wit flowing freely. Together they provided the wide range of skills necessary to run a ship as complex and versatile as the Wasp.

The briefing covered information on the MEU (SOC) and ARG and explained the ins and outs of the MEUEX I was about to observe. The exercise had already been going on for several days; I was to observe one of the simulated missions, a modified NEO of a small combat unit that had gotten itself on the wrong side of a peacekeeping 'green line.' They were encircled and very anxious. The MEU (SOC) was tasked to get them out. By 2000 hours (8:00 P.M.), the briefing had broken up, and I had a chance to look around the hangar. When I emerged onto the hangar deck, it was bathed in the sickly yellow sodium-vapor lighting used to preserve night vision. Tonight, most of the 26th Aviation Combat Element or ACE was up on the 'roof,' so that the majority of the hangar bay could be dedicated to laying out the equipment and weapons for the units involved with the mission in the morning. Along with the NEO team, other units of the MEU (SOC) were prepping their gear around the deck of the bay. One of these, a TRAP team, is kept on standby anytime that the ACE has aircraft in the air. This was only a small team, but provisions had been made to have larger Sparrowhawk (platoon-sized) and Bald Eagle (company-sized) units available, should they be required.

As I walked around, I was introduced to Lieutenant Colonel John Allen, the CO of the 26th's Ground Combat Element (GCE), BLT 2/6. John Allen stands in vivid contrast to Colonel Battaglini. While the 26th's CO is tall and lean, with a hard, intense gaze, Allen is shorter and more muscular, with a sunny, humorous nature that belies the concentration going on inside his head. He is always alert. If you watch his eyes, they are always moving, always taking note of details. With a friendly smile, he quietly suggested that I show up for the confirmation briefing that was to be held in the officers' mess at 2200 hours (10:00 P.M.), if I wanted to know more about what was to come in the morning.

I headed back up to the 02 Level, and I found a spot to sit on the port side of the mess area, while probably