[h=1]New US Marine Corps Crisis Unit To Be Based in Kuwait[/h]
[h=6]Sep. 29, 2014 - 11:57AM |
By JOE GOULD and PAUL McLEARY[/h]
The US Marine Corps is preparing to deploy about 2,100 grunts to be based out of Kuwait in a new unit configuration designed to respond to crises in the region, according to Corps officials.
Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force (SPMAGTF) Central Command will be equipped to perform noncombat evacuation, humanitarian assistance, infrastructure support, tactical aircraft recovery, fixed-site security and theater sustainment missions, said Brig. Gen. John Love, assistant deputy commandant for plans, policies and operations.
Plans to deploy the unit predate the conflict in Iraq and Syria with the Islamic State. Love, who spoke Sept. 25 at the Modern Day Marine expo, made no reference to the militant Islamic group or where the unit would be deployed, and a Marine Corps spokesman would say only that the Marines would be based in multiple locations.
Marine Corps Times, a sister publication of Defense News, had reported that the unit would likely be based at an existing military installation. The service stood up a command element in Bahrain in 2011, which is built around about 150 headquarters staff personnel. The Air Force has a forward presence at an air base in the United Arab Emirates and the Army in Kuwait.
But speaking at the Pentagon on Sept. 25, Col. Kenneth DeTreux, commanding officer of 8th Marine Regiment and the commander of SPMAGTF-Crisis Response, said the new unit’s headquarters will be based out of Kuwait.
New US Marine Corps Crisis Unit To Be Based in Kuwait | Defense News | defensenews.com
[h=6]Sep. 29, 2014 - 11:57AM |
By JOE GOULD and PAUL McLEARY[/h]
The US Marine Corps is preparing to deploy about 2,100 grunts to be based out of Kuwait in a new unit configuration designed to respond to crises in the region, according to Corps officials.
Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force (SPMAGTF) Central Command will be equipped to perform noncombat evacuation, humanitarian assistance, infrastructure support, tactical aircraft recovery, fixed-site security and theater sustainment missions, said Brig. Gen. John Love, assistant deputy commandant for plans, policies and operations.
Plans to deploy the unit predate the conflict in Iraq and Syria with the Islamic State. Love, who spoke Sept. 25 at the Modern Day Marine expo, made no reference to the militant Islamic group or where the unit would be deployed, and a Marine Corps spokesman would say only that the Marines would be based in multiple locations.
Marine Corps Times, a sister publication of Defense News, had reported that the unit would likely be based at an existing military installation. The service stood up a command element in Bahrain in 2011, which is built around about 150 headquarters staff personnel. The Air Force has a forward presence at an air base in the United Arab Emirates and the Army in Kuwait.
But speaking at the Pentagon on Sept. 25, Col. Kenneth DeTreux, commanding officer of 8th Marine Regiment and the commander of SPMAGTF-Crisis Response, said the new unit’s headquarters will be based out of Kuwait.
New US Marine Corps Crisis Unit To Be Based in Kuwait | Defense News | defensenews.com
