Photo By Master Sgt. Scott McAdam | Lt. Gen. Richard T. Tryon, Commanding General, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Command, talks...... read more read more
Subscribe
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – A city in tatters: roads, bridges and piers damaged or inaccessible and no electricity or clean water. Some of the city’s most basic infrastructure is damaged or destroyed. Send in the Marines!
A Defense Support of Civil Authorities or DSCA mission is a last resort, and due to their amphibious nature, it’s also a unique mission the Navy-Marine Corps team is prepared for.
“The (required) equipment, personnel and supplies can move from the ships on which they are embarked via a ramp, directly from the ship on to a pier or via a landing craft to a landing zone in a port harbor or unimproved beach,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Cagle, action officer, Marine Corps Forces Command or MARFORCOM. “This is the added flexibility that amphibious forces bring to the effort: non-reliance on established infrastructure.”
Marines and sailors attached to Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 2nd Marine Logistics Group came up to the Norfolk area from Camp Lejeune N.C. to participate in training missions with the Navy simulating DSCA operations from Aug. 20 to 22.
A DSCA mission would occur if civil authorities made a request to the Department of Defense, to fill specific gaps in their abilities to respond to a natural or man-made disaster.
The DOD would then find an appropriate unit to fill that void based on its capability to help where needed.
“We’re a force in readiness – not only globally, but here in the United States – to respond to any event where military assistance may be needed to facilitate taking care of the United States and its citizens,” said 1st Lt. Thomas J. Heemer, the landing support platoon commander for CLB-24. “That could be responding to a hurricane – such as Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina in the past – or any disaster, which would [require] such a large-scale response.”
This training operation was designed to test how long it would take Marines to drive from Camp Lejeune, N.C. to Norfolk and with the Navy, load personnel and equipment aboard ships, to conduct an amphibious response.
“The loadex (operation) provided the Navy/Marine Corps Team an opportunity to conduct integrated planning and execution, (it was) an invaluable interoperability training opportunity,” said Capt. Shawn McGowan, a combat cargo officer with Expeditionary Strike Group 2. “The more opportunities that we have to train together, the better prepared we’ll be.”
Due to its strategic location so close to the Navy’s ships, the staging supplies are stored aboard Camp Allen in Norfolk.
“It streamlines the response and reduces steps that Marines will have to make in an unpredictable environment of crisis,” said Cagle.
Though this was the first training of its kind on the East Coast, the Marines and sailors proved they are ready to be called on.
“This training closely mirrored the training that deploying Amphibious Ready Groups with their embarked Marine Expeditionary Units conduct on a regular basis, so in that regard the success of the evolution was not surprising,” said Cagle. “Once again the Navy-Marine Corps team demonstrated the inherent capability of amphibious forces to be ready when the need arises.”
| Date Taken: | 08.21.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 08.29.2013 11:15 |
| Story ID: | 112819 |
| Location: | NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, US |
| Hometown: | CAMDEN, ARKANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 73 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Amphibious Operations, not just for Combat, by MSgt Scott McAdam, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
