5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade
The 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, numbering about 7,500, sailed from San Diego on the first of December 1990 in the 13 ships of Amphibious Group Three. The last operational deployment of the 5th MEB had been in 1962, when it went through the Panama Canal to take station in the Caribbean during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The ground element core of the 5th MEB was the reinforced 5th Marine regiment from Camp Pendleton; the aviation element, MAG-50; and the combat service support element, BSSG-50.
The 5th MEB's schedule called for it to arrive at Subic Bay on 26 December 1990, for a brief training period. Then on 1 January, it was to proceed so as to drive in the area of operations by 15 January. "Embedded" in 5th MEB was the 11th MEU(SOC)--meaning that the 11th MEU(SOC) could be reconstituted for missions such as those being per-formed by 13th MEU(SOC).
With the allied advance well under way all along the line, a U.S. Navy amphibious force made its final effort to convince the Iraqi command authority that Central Command would launch a major over-the-beach assault into Kuwait. Beginning late on 24 February 1991 and continuing over the following two days, the Navy landed the 7,500-man 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Al Mish'ab, Saudi Arabia, about 28 miles south of the border with Kuwait. Once ashore, the 5th became the reserve for Joint Forces Command East. Later investigation showed that the presence of the amphibious force in Persian Gulf waters before the ground war had forced the Iraqi command to hold in Kuwait as many as four divisions to meet an amphibious assault that never materialized.
