24 MEU SOC In AFGHANISTAN

By Lt Col P

Marines from 24 MEU SOC are setting up for ops in Afghanistan.

Marines with MWSS 271, attached to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, NATO International Security Assistance Force, lay down AM2 matting while in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. This AM2 matting will be essential in the support of aircraft while conducting operations in support of NATO.

Building an airfield by hand isn't as sexy as kicking down doors and putting warheads on foreheads, but without the hard airstrip you can't run extended helo ops, and definitely can't run Harriers.

“Obviously it is really hot during the day, slamming 155- pound slabs of matting. It takes a lot of those to build an airfield,” explained Warrant Officer Joseph Whitebear, expeditionary airfield and emergency services officer, MWSS 271. “They push through it like Marines do, it’s not an easy job, but they are probably the best at it.”

And here, we get a look at the C-130 Det. What's significant about this is that normally a MEU SOC's two C-130s are on-call in CONUS rather than forward deployed, since they don't fit too well on amphibs. In this case, they were needed right up front (no pun intended.) The planes and crews are getting a workout:

“I think we would all like to do everything our platform is capable of. In Iraq we have become more segregated into certain teams and what we do. Here we have the chance to take a KC-130 and do everything it was built to do, so I hope we get that chance while we are here,” he said.
For him that means, helicopter and fixed wing refueling, resupply drops, and landing on less-than perfect landing strips (short, dirty or at high elevation.)

Flying Leathernecks!

March 20, 2008 02:19 AM Our Beloved Corps ~ The Long War

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Comments

YYIPPE,
First up, and short.
Sometimes grunt work is well,...grunt work.
My son is LAMENTING from the stumps, MARINES
are your foreward enemy crushers. THATS enemy
CRUSHERS. A force that causes the enemy to WITHDRAW from the battle because they cannnot withstand being CRUSHED by superior CRUSHING! THAT is MARINE DOCTRINE!

Unless you vote for a future CIC named hillary or obama. You must be on drugs if you even mention THAT poss. But this site could not allow that degree of Left leaning marxist chunk blow. OR? Charlie? Bull? John? LCP?
I know I'm off the reservation, but times are tough , so to speak, BETTER to BE DEAD THAN RED?

BLOGGS are a potent weapon. Time to lock........

Richard · March 20, 2008 11:11 PM