It’s a big ocean out there. The Marine Corps’ push to return to its maritime roots and get more leathernecks out to sea on Navy ships means a brighter spotlight on some of those missions that haven’t routinely been done by units more attuned to the sandbox of combat. While the public might be more aware of operations to track and capture gun-toting hijackers and pirates or terrorists at sea, such visit-board-search-seize training (above photo) aren’t the only high-speed training Marines are getting to do. Just this month, after some training in San Diego, Calif., members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit headed north to Ventura…
Browsing: Anti-piracy
There’s nothing like that spray of salty air, open seas and several hundred horsepower to make one think: And they pay me to do this?? Just a thought looking at some images released this month as the California-based 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the Navy’s Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group boarded a pair of ships and got underway for their first at-sea integration exercises ahead of a scheduled overseas deployment later this year. The boat crews supporting the training mission against mock pirates on a vessel near San Clemente Island operated off the transport dock ship New Orleans, which will deploy…
Sometimes, the tail end of a story gets forgotten. Such is the case with sailors and Marines who recently returned from a deployment with the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group and 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, out of San Diego, Calif. You may remember the sad story of a skiff with about 85 Somalian and Ethiopian passengers capsizing in the Gulf of Aden in September, drowing at least 13 men and women. It’s a sad, but common theme: poor refugees running from economic hardship in African countries are known to brave the pirate-infested gulf to get to Yemen, risking their lives in the…
Has a new legend been born? I’m going out on a limb here: Events that have occurred in the last 24 hours in the Gulf of Aden will give drill instructors and recruiters across the Marine Corps a new story to use as motivation in the future. It’s hard not to believe that when you boil the details of the rescue of the Magellan Star down to the basics. Ready? 1) The ship, a German-owned shipping vessel, reports Wednesday that their ship had been captured about 85 miles off the coast of Yemen. 2) Heavily armed force reconnaissance Marines with…
