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WASP ESG/22d MEU makes history during recent exercise

Marine Corps News

Release Date: 10/23/2003

Story by Gunnery Sgt. Keith A. Milks

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Oct. 20, 2003) -- For the first time aboard Camp Lejeune, a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) has simultaneously conducted Naval gunfire missions with the introduction of forces ashore from ships at sea.

The feat was accomplished by the WASP Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG)/22d MEU (consisting of its Command Element, Battalion Landing Team 1st Bn., 6th Marines, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 266 (Reinforced), and MEU Service Support Group 22) during the unit's recent Amphibious Squadron (PHIBRON)/MEU Integration Training (PMINT).

PMINT is normally used to refine shipboard procedures and give the MEU its 'sea legs,' but the 22d MEU was able to push past this and flex its operational components concurrently. The 22d MEU is part of an Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) that combines the three amphibious assault ships on which a MEU normally deploys with a small flotilla of Navy combatant ships.

The WASP ESG/22d MEU combines amphibious assault ships WASP, SHREVEPORT, and WHIDBEY ISLAND which will carry the MEU with the cruisers LEYTE GULF and YORKTOWN, destroyer MCFAUL, and attack submarine CONNECTICUT.

"This is the first time in recent Navy and Marine history that we've seamlessly integrated naval surface fires during PMINT [with missions ashore]," said Col. Kenneth F. McKenzie, Jr., 22d MEU's commanding officer. "This is the future. It [the ESG/MEU] shows the way ahead for the Navy-Marine team."

During PMINT, the MEU conducted a number of raids from the amphibious assault ships off shore using helicopters, assault amphibious vehicles, and Combat Rigid Raiding Craft (CRRC) to ferry the Marines to their objectives. Additionally, MSSG-22 established a large humanitarian assistance camp ashore that could accommodate up to 600 'displaced' persons.

Already ashore were forward observers from the MEU's Air-Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) detachment and BLT 1/6. They directed the fire from the cruiser YORKTOWN and destroyer MCFAUL.

Although the firing of the Navy guns was not in direct support of the raids and other missions ashore, it did demonstrate the MEU's ability to conduct such operations simultaneously as it would have to do in real-world situations. Aboard the WASP, the flagship of the WASP ESG/22d MEU, planners in the Supporting Arms Control Center (SACC) managed the live fire exercise and practiced working with the ships' staffs on the movement of the vessels into their assigned fire support area.

The exercises conducted during PMINT not only enhanced the skills of the forward observers who directed the Naval gunfire, but also reinforced the working relationships between the various units making up the WASP ESG/22d MEU.

Earlier this year, the California-based 13th MEU (SOC) was the first unit to deploy as part of an ESG. Although the composition of the East and West Coast-based units are the same, a fundamental difference lies in the units' command structure.

While the West Coast MEU, dubbed Expeditionary Strike Group 1, has a Navy admiral in overall command, the WASP ESG/22d MEU maintains the traditional 'supported/supporting' relationship with which MEUs have deployed for years. Upon the conclusion of these deployments, an evaluation of their respective command structures will determine the command structure with which future ESGs will deploy.