Lejeune brigade may be Afghanistan bound

Lance Cpl. Kyle Bower, a rifleman with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, patrols a village in the Helmand province, Afghanistan on Dec. 22, 2008.


Lejeune brigade may be Afghanistan bound
By Trista Talton - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jan 7, 2009 21:08:41 EST

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — The 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade may be headed to Afghanistan later this year, diverting thousands of troops once headed to Iraq.

Planning for the potential MEB deployment is underway at Camp Lejeune, N.C., said one person familiar with the process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Details, including which units from II Marine Expeditionary Force would be tapped to go, are not being released until an official decision is made.

“There is not much we can say at this point,” said Maj. Eric Dent, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon, in an e-mail. “There has been no decision to send additional Marine forces to Afghanistan. We routinely conduct contingency planning that would enable us to respond rapidly should additional forces be required.”

For more than a year, Commandant Gen. James Conway has been pressing for a greater Marine presence in Afghanistan, hoping to move his troops out of Iraq’s now-stable Anbar province and onto the other front. Last year, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and elements of 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, deployed to Afghanistan to provide a surge of forces against the Taliban.

Currently, the Corps has a Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force in Afghanistan composed of various units from across the service. Lejeune’s 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment serves as the infantry leg of that unit.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/01/marine_afghanistan_brigade_010709w/%2e