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MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- General James T. Conway, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, was aboard Camp Lejeune, Oct. 20 as the senior staff of the II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) reviewed its recently-completed Mission Rehearsal Exercise.
The five-day MRX was a scenario-driven event designed to test the II MEF (Fwd) staff's ability to respond to a wide range of potential operational scenarios that may arise during the unit's upcoming deployment to Iraq scheduled to begin in early 2009.
II MEF (Fwd) will relieve the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based I MEF (Fwd) early next year, and assume responsibility for Iraq's Al Anbar province. As a task-organized Marine Air-Ground Task Force, II MEF (Fwd) consists of its Command Element, Ground Combat Element (Regimental Combat Teams 6 and 8), Logistics Combat Element (2nd Marine Logistics Group [Forward]), and Aviation Combat Element (2nd Marine Aircraft Wing [Forward]).
Maj. Gen. R.T. Tryon is the commanding general of II MEF (Fwd), and spoke to the assembled Marines and Sailors who represented a cross-section of the entire MAGTF.
"This MRX set the conditions for our success as we go forward," said Tryon. "We need to continue to raise the bar and elevate the standard as we continue to build our team."
Run by the MAGTF Staff Training Program (MSTP) based at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., the MRX replicated a block of time in Iraq and threw a variety of notional "real world" events at the Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen on the II MEF (Fwd) staff, and required them to coordinate responses as if they were in Iraq. The MSTP staff, led by Col. Glenn Starnes, then evaluated the appropriateness of the responses and made recommendations to improve the staff process.
The headquarters and primary staffs of every Major Subordinate Element in the MAGTF took part in the MRX, and the exercise helped solidify command relationships and procedures.
"It showed us how to integrate with higher headquarters," said Maj. James Ryans, the current operations officer for RCT-8. "It allowed us to develop positive personal and professional relationships with our future counterparts at higher headquarters and adjacent units.
"We became familiar with the procedures and information requirements that enable units to conduct operations within our future area of operations in the Al Anbar province."
Assisting in the MRX were a number of retired Marine general officers who served as mentors to the commanding generals of II MEF (Fwd)'s MSEs, and included retired Lieutenant Generals John Sattler, Martin Berndt, Robert Blackman, Gary McKissock, and Bruce Knutson, Jr.
During its deployment, II MEF (Fwd) will serve as part of Multi-National Corps - Iraq, which will be headquartered by the U.S. Army's I Corps out of Fort Lewis, Wash. The MRX was the latest step in a multi-tiered training program designed to prepare U.S. forces to assist Iraq in becoming a peaceful and sovereign nation. The MEF (Fwd) has already completed a series of seminars and briefs, and the next step in its predeployment preparation is a I Corps-wide exercise called Operation Unified Endeavor.
"It's great to be down here with you," said Conway, who himself commanded all Marine forces in Iraq during 2004. "It was very enlightening, and what you just went through is essential to your success in Iraq next year."
| Date Taken: | 05.27.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 05.27.2009 06:58 |
| Story ID: | 34145 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, IQ |
| Web Views: | 277 |
| Downloads: | 121 |
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