MEB in Afghanistan grows to 15,000
The Marine Corps’ footprint in Afghanistan has expanded to include 15,000 Marines, the service’s top general said, and another battalion is expected to deploy soon.
By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Mar 1, 2010 19:25:26 EST
Commandant Gen. James Conway shared the number with the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. Marine forces in Afghanistan will swell to 18,500 Marines in March and 19,400 by mid-April, when Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan, based in Helmand province, is expanded to become a full Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), commanded by Maj. Gen. Richard Mills.
The next unit to deploy will be 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. Small numbers of troops began leaving Feb. 18, and the bulk of the unit’s forces will leave from North Carolina from March 3-9, said Lt. Col. Michael Manning, battalion commander.
Manning said the unit will be assigned to train and mentor the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police, and also expects to see combat operations.
“It’s a very rounded mission,” he said from his office at Camp Lejeune. “We’ll be helping the ANA and the ANP clear their villages of the Taliban.”
The unit returned from a deployment to Anbar province, Iraq, about a year ago, and was told to expect a deployment to Afghanistan beginning last April, Manning said. It completed Enhanced Mojave Viper predeployment training at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif., early this month and also trained at Fort Pickett, Va., and Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz.
Manning said that for the first time, the battalion will deploy to a war zone with infantry explosive device detector dogs embedded with the unit. Marines from the battalion trained with the dogs for weeks in anticipation of the deployment.