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23,000 Marines tapped for Iraq this fall

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — The list is out, and the Osprey is on it.

The next rotation of about 23,000 mostly East Coast-based Marines to Iraq was released July 2, and the MV-22 tilt-rotor is, for the first time, included. Otherwise, it’s a pretty standard bunch from the forward element of the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based II Marine Expeditionary Force heading to Iraq this fall.

The list of units comprises the second half of the MEF’s yearlong oversight of Marines in Iraq’s western Anbar province. Rotations under an MEF, whether it’s II MEF or the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based I MEF, are roughly March through September, with a second wave deploying for September through the following March.

Corps officials said in April that Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, based at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., will deploy to Al Asad Air Base in September. This will be the aircraft’s first combat deployment.

As the squadron has been giving familiarization flights to grunts who will fly in the Osprey over Iraq, Marines on the ground there are making preparations for the Osprey’s arrival. At Camp Ramadi, two landing pads have been constructed with the tilt-rotor in mind. Ospreys need additional landing space because of their wide rotor span.

The Corps has not announced whether the Osprey will get to Iraq by air or ship.

This deployment is new for the MV-22, but it is familiar to other units and squadrons on the list, as it marks the second half of the Corps’ fifth major rotation into Iraq.

This will be the third Iraq tour for battalions such as 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, since the March 2003 invasion. Grunts in the battalion recently spent several days in the field training in preparation for their upcoming deployment. Spread throughout areas of Camp Lejeune, 3/2 Marines focused on long-range shooting at the rifle range, responded to mock convoy ambushes and got a detailed course in roadside bomb detection.

About 40 percent of Marines in the battalion are Iraq war veterans, according to their commanding officer, Lt. Col. Pete Baumgarten.

Each year since spring 2004, the forward element of a MEF has controlled Marine units in Iraq for a year, and then handed them off to the MEF on the opposite coast. The first half of the East Coast rotation deployed earlier this year, roughly between January and March. That was around the same time the U.S. launched a troop surge in Iraq. Since February, nearly 30,000 more troops — mostly soldiers — have landed in Iraq in an effort to stem sectarian violence.

But the rate of attacks on troops and civilians in Iraq remained almost unchanged in the first three months of the surge, according to the Pentagon’s latest progress report. Still, civilian murders and violence in the Baghdad security districts and Anbar province were down during that period, the report states.

The MEF’s forward commander also heads Multi-National Force-West, the coalition force responsible for western Iraq. The U.S. is responsible for training and preparing Iraqi security forces to lead counterinsurgency operations in Anbar province.

Who’s going

COMMAND ELEMENT

II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward)

2nd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company

2nd Radio Battalion

2nd Intelligence Battalion

Elements of 8th Communications Battalion

GROUND COMBAT ELEMENT

1st Battalion, 8th Marines

2nd Battalion, 8th Marines

3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines

3rd Battalion, 5th Marines

3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines

2nd Reconnaissance Battalion

1st Battalion, 10th Marines (Task Force Military Police)

LOGISTICS COMBAT ELEMENT

2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward)

2nd Supply Battalion

Combat Logistics Battalion 4

Combat Logistics Battalion 8

6th Engineer Support Battalion

Elements of 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion

AIR COMBAT ELEMENT

2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward)

Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2

Marine Attack Squadron 542

Marine Tiltrotor Squadron 263

Marine Wing Support Squadron 272

Elements of Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 252