24th MEU’s Iraq-Bound Infantry Battalion Departs

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Press Release
Public Affairs Office
24th Marine Expeditionary Unit
Capt. David Nevers

Contact: neversde@24meu.usmc.mil

Release # 0621-04-1159

24th MEU’s Iraq-Bound Infantry Battalion Departs

June 18, 2004

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- About 850 Marines and sailors of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit will say goodbye to family and friends this weekend as the MEU continues its sequenced deployment to Iraq.

All but a handful of the leathernecks compose the unit’s ground combat element, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, known as 1/2. Commanded by Lt. Col. Robert T. Durkin, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., the battalion will head first to California to conduct its final stateside training before leaving for Iraq early next month.

At March Air Reserve Base, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, the MEU’s ground-pounders will practice the art of security and stability operations, or SASO, military shorthand for what U.S. troops are doing to ensure a successful transition to a peaceful, democratic Iraq.

Over the course of 10 days beginning Monday, the Marines will test their skills in patrolling, operating vehicle checkpoints, and responding to threats, including improvised explosive devices and ambushes. Role players will be used to make the training more realistic.

The exercise will build on urban-combat training the Marines conducted in May in West Virginia, just after the MEU learned that it would be deploying ahead of schedule and heading directly to Iraq.

The MEU is using a variety of means to transport its troops and equipment to the Middle East. On June 10, the USS Kearsarge sailed from Onslow Bay with about 250 Marines and some of the MEU’s aviation and ground assets. Earlier this week, a smaller group of Marines flew out of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., and the U.S. Naval Ship Charlton left Wilmington, N.C., carrying additional Marines and more of the unit’s equipment.

The remainder of the MEU will flow to the region during the next two weeks. The entire unit expects to be in Iraq by mid-July.