Military News
02-23-2010, 05:40 PM
02-23-2010 06:14 PM
The Marine Corps will have another battalion in Afghanistan within the next 10 days, swelling Marine forces in southern Afghanistan to more than 12,000 Marines.
First Battalion, 2nd Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., began deploying small numbers of troops Feb. 18, and will send the bulk of its forces from North Carolina from March 3-9, said Lt. Col. Michael Manning, battalion commander. The unit will fall under Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan, based in Helmand province, as the Corps grows its forces to about 19,500 by late spring.
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.
More... (http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/02/marine_battalion_022310w/)
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The Marine Corps will have another battalion in Afghanistan within the next 10 days, swelling Marine forces in southern Afghanistan to more than 12,000 Marines.
First Battalion, 2nd Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., began deploying small numbers of troops Feb. 18, and will send the bulk of its forces from North Carolina from March 3-9, said Lt. Col. Michael Manning, battalion commander. The unit will fall under Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan, based in Helmand province, as the Corps grows its forces to about 19,500 by late spring.
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.
More... (http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/02/marine_battalion_022310w/)
[Clicking on more will open up a popup box with the complete news story from the news source. MilitaryWoman.org is not responsible for content.]