[Ngo-lwg] More Marines to Japan; Vietnam, Cambodia next

Chuck Searcy chucksearcy at yahoo.com
Thu Feb 7 12:47:19 GMT 2013



http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2013/02/marine-corps-missions-okinawa-japan-vietnam-cambodia-next-020513w/


More Marines to Japan; Vietnam, Cambodia next

By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 5, 2013 20:26:45 EST
The Marine Corps’ shift to the Pacific will ramp up considerably this year, with more personnel and aircraft rotating to Japan and other 
destinations throughout the region.
As of late January, there are two infantry battalions rotating through 
Okinawa for six months at a time, with a third scheduled to start this 
summer. The Corps also intends to send a contingent of electronic 
warfare aircraft to its air station in mainland Japan, and a group of explosives experts will undertake a humanitarian mission in Vietnam. Future engagement with Cambodia is on the horizon, too.
The Marine Corps’ commandant, Gen. Jim Amos, told reporters at a conference in San Diego last week that the infantry units cycling through Okinawa 
this year will conduct training in Guam, Australia and, he hopes, the 
Philippines. The two battalions currently deployed are permanently based in Hawaii and North Carolina. Plans call for another infantry unit, 
likely from California, to deploy in August or September, Amos said.
“So we’ll actually have three rotating,” he said. “… That is part of the 
[Pacific] reorientation … to get these units into the theater.”
Additionally, the service will send an unspecified number of EA-6B Prowlers to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, which already hosts rotations of F/A-18 
Hornet fighter squadrons. The Prowlers are long-range aircraft equipped 
with advanced electronic countermeasures capable of disabling enemy air 
defenses and gathering intelligence.
“We haven’t had them there, flying out of Iwakuni, in a long time,” Amos 
said. “They are going to come back. So I’m pretty excited about it.”
In July, Marines from Camp Pendleton, Calif., many expert in handling 
explosives and mines, will head to Vietnam, where thousands of 
unexploded munitions remain from the Vietnam War. They’ll teach locals 
how to handle and dispose of unexploded munitions, according to a Marine Corps news release.
“We are not training in Vietnam,” Amos said, “but I would hope that someday down the road, with relationships we build over the next year or two, 
that we’ll be able to train in Vietnam, perhaps with air forces, and 
operate along with them and build those relationships.”
The Navy’s top officer, Adm. Jon Greenert, said during the same conference 
that the U.S. is seeking new opportunities in Cambodia as well. The commanding general of Marine Forces Pacific, Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, 
told Marine Corps Times last fall that Vietnam and Cambodia have a 
strong interest in exchanges or training centered on medical and 
humanitarian-response missions.
Missions in Malaysia, Indonesia and India also are on the horizon, Robling said at the time.


http://news.antiwar.com/2013/02/06/asia-surge-us-marines-heading-to-vietnam-cambodia/
Asia Surge: US Marines Heading to Vietnam, Cambodia
US Hopes to Increase Presence Across Pacific
by Jason Ditz,  February 06, 2013


Obama Administration officials have hyped their planned “Asian 
pivot” for awhile, an effort to get more US combat troops deployed in 
nations across the Pacific Rim in spite of the US not actually being in 
any wars there. Today Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Jim Amos revealed his branch’s plans.
The US Marines currently have two battalions “permanently” deployed across 
the Pacific Rim, mostly Okinawa and Guam. This will be increased to add a third battalion, with an increase in troops in Okinawa, as well as 
Vietnam and Cambodia.


The Vietnam mission is scheduled for July, and will center around 
training locals in disposing of unexploded land mines still littering 
the nation since the US war in that nation a generation ago, while the 
Cambodia deployment will increase US ties with the regime there.


Amos expressed hope that the Vietnam deployment would build 
relationships to the point where the Marines could establish a training 
and operational relationship with the Vietnamese military, while Lt. 
Gen. Terry Robling says that deployments into Malaysia, Indonesia and 
even India are also “on the horizon.”






========================================
CHUCK SEARCY
25 Truong Han Sieu, #302, Hanoi, Vietnam
Mobile:    +84 (0) 903 420
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Email:       chucksearcy at yahoo.com
Skype:     
 chucksearcy
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