Expeditionary Forces Fill Gap in Maritime Zone
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS080319-11
Release Date: 3/19/2008 1:08:00 PM
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW/AW) Jen Smith, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command Public Affairs
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (NNS) -- During the Naval Expeditionary Forces Expo and Symposium, in Virginia Beach March 11-13, leaders from the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Air Force discussed how they work together in an expanded battlespace, applying the new unified maritime strategy.
The advent of the "Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower," marks the first time the United States' three sea services have come together to define how the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard will focus their efforts now and in the future.
Ships, aircraft and submarines operate in the traditional maritime environments, but the Navy's expeditionary forces provide a continuum of security through the near-coast, inner harbors, ports and riverine maritime environments.
"It's a complex battlespace," said Rear Adm. Mike Tillotson who leads the 40,000 Sailors who make up the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, headquartered at Little Creek Amphibious Base in Norfolk, Va. "If we leave it unattended, it will be doomed by the enemy extensively."
To ensure security and maintain sea lines of communication through the last tactical mile, NECC forces fill the gap between the Joint Forces Maritime Component Commander and the Joint Forces Land Component Commander.
"The NECC forces are providing information ashore to the joint operations center that belongs to the land component commander, and they're pushing information to the sea to the maritime component commander and his maritime operations center.
"Because there are many bad things that happen in seams – the transportation of contraband, high-value individuals, and weapons-grade materials…There has to be a trade off of information [in order to] build a coordinated picture and trap the threat that travels through this zone."
NECC's capabilities are diverse and support the full spectrum of operations. As one of the Navy's type commanders, NECC centrally manages the current and future readiness, resources, manning, training and equipment of the Navy's expeditionary Sailors who are currently serving in every theater of operation in support of the new maritime strategy.
These capabilities include naval construction, dive and salvage and explosive ordnance disposal, which have been part of the Navy for several decades. Not only did NECC bring some existing forces together, it also introduced and restructured new capabilities, such as maritime civil affairs, expeditionary intelligence and expeditionary training.
These forces work closely with the Marine Corps.
"Expeditionary forces also include the expeditionary strike groups, the Marine expeditionary units aboard the strike groups and the forces that do anything in the blue, green and brown water and inward," said Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Thomas Benes, director for the Pentagon's Expeditionary Warfare division.
NECC forces are combat enablers assigned to Marine units currently involved in combat operations in Central Command. These forces include Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians, Seabees, Riverine forces and individual augmentee Sailors.
NECC works closely with the Coast Guard as well. Several NECC and the Coast Guard personnel take part in an exchange program. Currently Coast Guard personnel are assigned to NECC's Maritime Expeditionary Security Forces(MESF). MESF is made up of small boat units that provide security in the inner coastal and near shore maritime environments and small detachments provide landward security for harbors, ports and critical infrastructure.
"We are working very closely with NECC," said Coast Guard Capt. Mark Ogle, chief of operations for the Coast Guard's Deployable Operations Group, "We essentially work for them. We are a force provider to them. Our port security units, our goal is to provide the very best for the commodore overseas."
In addition, the two sea services work together abroad. Like the Navy and Marine Corps, the Coast Guard plays a role in persistent naval presence through the Deployable Operations Group. Several of the units within the group provide capabilities similar to or complementary of those that make up NECC such as tactical law enforcement and port security.
The three sea services are building partnerships and helping increase partner navies' capabilities and capacity to provide and respond to security concerns in their own territorial waters, ports and waterways. Many other nations' navies operate in a battlespace similar to that of NECC or the Coast Guard with equipment much like the boats in MESF, rather than in international waters with large vessels with deep drafts.
The sea services are working together to protect the United States' vital interests, establish favorable security conditions and prevent war whenever possible, but if necessary they are prepared to win wars decisively. In today's global war on terrorism, America's Armed Forces are involved in irregular warfare(IW). IW is defined as a violent struggle among state and non-state organizations for legitimacy and influence over the affected population.
"IW favors indirect approaches in order to erode an adversary's power, influence and will," said Benes. "It requires creative force employment and increased capacity to enable a persistent forward naval presence."
Forward presence is one of the six core capabilities highlighted in "Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower," the strategy that applies maritime power to the crucial responsibility of protecting U.S. assets in an increasingly interconnected and multi-polar world. The other pillars of the maritime strategy are: deterrence, sea control, power projection, maritime security and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
The demand for expeditionary forces implementing this strategy is high – and is expected to remain high in the coming years. NECC forces are currently deployed in every theater of operation.
"The global demand for these forces and NECC in other areas by the component commanders is way beyond the capacity we could ever afford even if we deployed the entire Marine Corps out there," said Benes. "In fact, every component commander wants a piece of that in their [area of responsibility]. That demand is outside of Iraq and Afghanistan. It's the shaping mission, the security cooperation mission with our allies… We just don't have enough folks to do it all, and we want to do more."
For more news from Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/necc/.
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