Corps to add second RCT in Afghanistan - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Corps to add second RCT in Afghanistan

The Marine Corps will add a second regimental combat team to supplement U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and it apparently has at least three infantry battalions ready to deploy.

About 9,000 Marines will be deployed among the 30,000 troops that President Barack Obama on Tuesday said will be deployed to the war-torn country in the next six months, said a Marine official in the Pentagon, who spoke to Marine Corps Times anonymously due to the sensitivity of the pending announcement. Deployment orders for some Marine units could be announced as soon as Friday, but may not come until next week, two Marine officials said.

The Corps has declined to identify units that will deploy, but in a Tuesday night phone conference with bloggers and journalists, an Army general said the initial forces include “an additional Marine regimental combat team going to southern Afghanistan to be a part of the Marine expeditionary brigade in Afghanistan.”

“They will assist in securing the population in central Helmand” province, said Army Brig. Gen. John Nicholson, director of the joint Pakistan-Afghanistan Coordination Cell at the Pentagon.

That marked the first time that a general officer confirmed that a second RCT will join 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, which is based in Helmand, the epicenter of the Corps’ fight against the Taliban and the home to Camp Leatherneck, the Corps’ major base in Afghanistan.

For months, the Corps has prepared for the possibility of increasing the number of RCTs from one to two. It’s a move that could increase Marine battalions in the fight from three to at least six, giving the Corps additional manpower to squeeze out insurgents in far-flung towns and villages that U.S. forces have not had the numbers to address.

Currently, 2nd MEB’s 10,000-plus troops include three infantry battalions composing RCT-7. Commanded by Col. Randall Newman and overseen by a headquarters unit based out of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., it will include the following this winter: 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C.; 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, out of Marine Corps Base Hawaii; and 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, out of Twentynine Palms. Each unit has between 800 to 1,000 troops, and either works with or is supported by the thousands of other Marines currently deployed.

While no deployment orders have been announced yet for the second RCT, possible troop movements can be gleaned from recent pre-deployment training schedules at Twentynine Palms and the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, Calif.

In recent months, most units that rolled through Enhanced Mojave Viper pre-deployment training at Twentynine Palms have since deployed to Afghanistan, including the three Marine battalions currently in the fight.

At least two other battalions have completed extensive pre-deployment training since August, raising expectations that they could be next. They are 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, out of Twentynine Palms, and 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Another battalion — Camp Lejeune’s 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines — also has trained at Twentynine Palms, but has not deployed. Its Marines were scheduled to train at Bridgeport, but the training was canceled, battalion commander Lt. Col. Brian Christmas said in the unit’s September newsletter. The battalion has been working to “ensure we are prepared for our likely deployment,” he said.

The Corps plans to send eight more units, ranging from aviation to logistics, through Enhanced Mojave Viper in January, including 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, and 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, Marine officials at Twentynine Palms said. The Pentagon would not discuss when or where those units may be deployed, but neither unit has been identified for a deployment at sea with a Marine expeditionary unit in 2010.

Commandant Gen. James Conway said Saturday while traveling in Afghanistan that Marines will be “the first troops out the door,” to increase U.S. forces there.

“We’ve been leaning forward in anticipation of a decision,” he said. “And we’ve got some pretty stiff fighting coming.”

Maj. Dave Nevers, Conway’s spokesman, confirmed that the general’s comments, first reported in the Washington Post, were accurate.

The units on deck

The following units may be preparing to deploy as part of an expected push next year to bolster U.S. forces in Afghanistan, according to Marine Corps Times research. Since August, each has completed or is scheduled for pre-deployment training at Twentynine Palms, Bridgeport, or both. None has deployed.

From Camp Lejeune, N.C.

• 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines: Scheduled for Enhanced Mojave Viper pre-deployment training in January

• 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines: Conducted EMV training in August; scheduled mountain warfare training this fall was cancelled

• Headquarters Company, 2nd Marines: Conducted mountain warfare training in September

• Combat Logistics Battalion 6: Conducted EMV training in October

From Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C.

• Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 366: Scheduled for EMV in January

• Marine Wing Support Squadron 274: Scheduled for EMV in January

From MCAS New River, N.C.

• Marine Light Attack Squadron 167: Scheduled for EMV in January

From MCAS Yuma, Ariz.

• Marine Attack Squadron 211: Scheduled for EMV in January

From Camp Pendleton, Calif.

• 1st Battalion, 4th Marines: Conducted mountain warfare training at Bridgeport in September and EMV training in October

• 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines: Scheduled for EMV in January

• Combat Logistics Battalion 5: Scheduled for EMV in January

• 7th Engineer Support Battalion: Conducted EMV training in September

From Twentynine Palms, Calif.

• 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines: Conducted EMV training November and mountain warfare training in August

_______

Staff writer James K. Sanborn contributed to this report.