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Forces join to show the bigger picture at Coba Gold 2003

USMC News

Submitted by: MCB Hawaii
Story Identification Number: 200362712263
Story by Sgt. Alexis R. Mulero

THAI MARINE BASE CAMP SAMAESAN, Kingdom of Thailand(June 27, 2003) -- THAI MARINE BASE CAMP SAMAESAN, Kingdom of Thailand -- Staying true to their commander's motto of "Live your oath, accomplish the mission and bring everybody home safely," the Marines and Sailors of Combat Service Support Group 3 did exactly that during their two-month deployment to the Royal Kingdom of Thailand for Exercise Cobra Gold 2003 - a two-week exercise designed to combine all the elements of the Marine Air Ground Task Force for bilateral training with the Thai and Singaporean armed forces.

While there, Hawaii Marines accepted the task of heading up the command headquarters of the Combat Service Support Element for the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade and provided support for more than 3,000 service members from 3rd MEB, Combined Task Force, Special Operations Command and the Civil Military Operations Task Force.

Engineers

The combat engineers built two ranges and a base camp at Bangchang Kram.

Hygiene equipment Marines purified and distributed more than 1,000 gallons of potable drinking water.

The electronic Marines provided more than 3 megawatts of electricity throughout numerous sites in Thailand.

Finally, Bulk Fuel Marines stored and distributed more than 50,000 gallons of fuel.

Maintenance/Supply

The Marines kept the 3rd MEB at a 95 percent readiness at all times. They were also responsible for Brigade Service Support Group 3 being the first unit to successfully pass federal express packages coming from the mainland through customs in Bangkok.

These packages contained essential supplies to accomplish various missions throughout the spectrum of the exercise.

"Nobody was ever short on anything," said Col James Harbison, commanding officer, CSSG-3. "They managed to order and receive supplies from the mainland in 96 hours or less."

Transportation

Motor Transport Marines headed eight loads/offloads at Port of Chuck Samet and more than 300 aircraft loads at U-Tapao Airfield. They also provided more than 1,000 miles of support from South Thailand to Bangchang Kram and Lop Buri.

Services

Thanks to the effort of both air and ground transportation; more than $80,000 worth of exchange gear was sold to service members in the field; disbursers cashed more than $200,000 worth of checks and exchanged it for Thai Baht; and postal was able to receive and deliver mail to Okinawa in three days or less and to the U.S. in five days or less.

Additionally, the Camp Samaesan messing facility composed of BSSG-3 Marines was honored as the top field mess facility at the exercise.

"MAG-24 was heroic," exclaimed Harbison. "The air wing flew more than 200 air missions in support of BSSG-3. This type of support keeps the field Marines life decent."

Health and Dental

During the exercise, BSSG-3 corpsman assisted more than 1,000 patients during sick call and performed more surgeries than in any of the previous exercises, said Harbison.

In dental, the readiness of the entire 3rd MEB increased due to the relentless work efforts of its Sailors. During the exercise, the group sent a camouflaged dental van to the field to support the Lava Dogs of 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, and returned with a higher dental readiness rate than before the deployment.

"When deployed in Thailand, a unit's dental readiness usually decreases, but in our case we came back with a higher dental readiness rate than what we started with," said Harbison.

NEO

In addition to providing support to the 3rd MEB, BSSG-3 was tasked by III Marine Expeditionary Force as the command and control for the combined non-combatant evacuation exercise in combination with the Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok.

The BSSG-3 Marines were the first unit to make full use of the NEO tracking system that allows satellite communications link to the DOS allowing them to track all evacuees.

"We successfully moved more than 190 DOS and Joint U.S. Military Advisory civilian dependents into safety," said Harbison.

NBC

The CSSG was also tasked as the lead on a nuclear, biological, and chemical decontamination combined exercise with the Thai National Tactical Division and 1st Thai Marine Regiment.

During the exercise, the Group NBC Marines conducted and supervised the decontamination of more than 60 vehicles to include the T69 Tank and Thai Amtraks.

Liberty

In addition to excelling on duty, the CSSG-3 Marines and Sailors proved they could excel off duty while serving in a foreign country.

"From the junior Pfc. to the highest ranking Marine and Sailor, they were all perfect ambassadors to Thailand," said Harbison. "Anyone that understands what liberty in Thailand is like, knows that having no liberty incidents is a tremendous achievement. This result reflects greatly on the leadership of our sergeants, corporals, leading petty officers and the maturity and responsibility our young Marines and Sailors."

All in all, the exercise was a complete success for the Hawaii-based unit both on and off duty.

"This was like being part of a great ball team," said Harbison. "Everyone gave their best individual performance at the time that mattered. At the end you're just proud of being in a championship team. CSSG-3 is like a championship team."

"CSSG-3 is perfectly structured to accept limited augmentation and stand up as a BSSG," said Harbison. "It was a great mission and we're ready and look forward to doing more in the future."