31st MEU's new BLT receives warm welcome
CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa (July 28, 2006) -- Marine Corps Community Services Okinawa and the United Service Organizations welcomed the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit's new battalion landing team to Okinawa and Camp Hansen with a barbecue and games July 23.
http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/Public%20Affairs%20Info/Archive%20News%20Pages/2006/060728-blt.html
Lance Cpl. W. Zach Griffith
Infantry Marines with 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division relieved 2nd Battalion 5th Marines after 2/5 served seven months as the 31st MEU's BLT.
The 31st MEU is the only permanently forward-deployed Marine air-ground task force in Southeast Asia and receives a new battalion landing team - an infantry unit reinforced with armored vehicles and artillery units - from stateside Marine commands every six to nine months.
This expeditionary deployment should be a welcome change of pace for the 1,100 Marines and sailors of 1/5, said Lt. Col. John Merna, 1/5's commanding officer.
"Our unit has constantly been rotating in and out of Iraq," Merna said. "Our time in Okinawa will allow us to get back in touch with our amphibious roots and maybe get out on a humanitarian assistance mission or two."
The time off from combat rotations will allow the 1/5 Marines to refresh new skills beyond urban-combat training and concentrate on refreshing the basic principles of small-unit leadership, according to Sgt. Ray Ranger, the noncommissioned officer-in-charge of training for the unit.
"All the training we have planned for during our stay on Okinawa focuses heavily on the leadership of the corporals and sergeants," Ranger said. "It'll give the new leaders a chance to practice leading their Marines without the imminent danger of enemy activity."
The deployment to Okinawa should provide an extraordinary opportunity for 1/5 Marines to get a better sense of their historical roots, said Sgt. Troy Arnold, a platoon guide with 1/5.
"We have battle sites tours, trips to Iwo Jima; we really have a good opportunity to see firsthand where Marines in the past have made our legacy," Arnold said.
The experience of being in a foreign country is one Merna and his battalion sergeant major, Sgt. Maj. Charles Dillree, hope their Marines won't waste.
"There is so much more to do than sit in a barracks room and drink beer," Dillree said.
"We want our Marines to get the most out of Okinawa," Merna added. "That is - training and the cultural experience."