Approximately two thousand Marines and Sailors from North Carolina will be conducting a training exercise in south central Virginia beginning later this month.
Oct . 24, 2007
A letter from the Commanding Officer of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Martinsville / Henry County Community.
By now you may have heard that approximately two thousand Marines and Sailors from North Carolina will be conducting a training exercise in south central Virginia beginning later this month. As the commanding officer of that unit, I’d like to explain to you what we have in mind and why it is so important.
The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is the landing force for the Norfolk-based Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group, set to deploy later this spring in support of the War on Terror. A MEU’s job is typically to serve as a sea-based quick-reaction force, ready to respond to a contingency or crisis should it arise in our area of operations.
Let me give you an example. Some of you may remember the story of Air Force Capt. Scott O’Grady, an F-16 pilot shot down over war-torn Bosnia in June 1995. For six days he eluded capture by the enemy. He finally established radio contact with U.S. forces, and within a few hours, Marines of the 24th MEU launched from USS Kearsarge in the Adriatic Sea to pluck him to safety.
Many of the Marines you’ll see in the coming few weeks have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment – now the MEU’s ground combat element – was in Ar Ramadi, helping to wrest that city from terrorist control.
We have plenty of combat experience. But we also have plenty of new Marines preparing to make their first deployment. Their lives and the success of our future missions could well depend on what we’re accomplishing now during our work-ups.
Six months prior to deploying, a MEU comes together and begins training intensively for two dozen types of missions it might be called upon to perform. We conduct much of that training at our home base at Camp Lejeune and aboard our ships at sea. But we couldn’t adequately prepare to operate in an unfamiliar environment without moving beyond our comfort zone.
Marines are trained to fight in every clime and place. For desert training, we go to Twentynine Palms, Calif. For cold-weather and mountain-warfare training, we head north to Bridgeport, Calif. For jungle-warfare training, we’ve sent Marines to Panama, the Philippines, Thailand and Okinawa.
Though an urban area may be a more hospitable place to live, it is nonetheless the most challenging environment we’re likely to face. Maneuvering in a heavily congested area; picking out possible threats lurking in windows and around street corners; trying to tell whether the car barreling toward their vehicle checkpoint is driven by a suicide bomber or an innocent family oblivious to their warning signals: these are just a few of the challenges Marines face in an urban setting.
Our aim in south central Virginia is to expose our Marines to realistic scenarios in an actual urban community, thereby reducing what we call environmental stress. We simply cannot replicate those conditions aboard our home base.
The exercise runs from Oct 28 through Nov 11. We’ll be spread among a number of areas including Ft Pickett, Crewe, Fork Union, South Boston, Chatham, Danville, Martinsville and Henry County. While much of the activity will take place aboard the military base, residents in some areas can expect to see helicopters flying overhead, military vehicles on the roads, and Marines patrolling on foot. Residents living in close proximity to a select few sites will be notified in advance that Marines will be conducting mock raids nearby.
We have coordinated our plans through the appropriate federal, state, county and city agencies and officials, including the FBI, the FAA and local police departments. We are working closely with them to ensure safety and to minimize the impact on you.
We understand that the added noise we’ll bring can be a nuisance. We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding, and we hope you’ll bear with us as we complete this critical training. Finally, we hope that what you observe will make you as proud of us as we are to serve on your behalf.
Semper Fidelis,
PETER PETRONZI, Colonel, U.S. Marines
Contact:
Capt. Kelly Frushour
COMMANDING OFFICER
24th MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT
CAMP LEJEUNE, NC 28542-0083
