BY GINA CAVALLARO – STAFF WRITER
Marine reservists have taken the lead in Morocco for African Lion, a 10-day joint exercise that partners Moroccan military forces with their American counterparts.
The command-and-control role for 14th Marines, a Reserve artillery regiment based in Fort Worth, Texas, is further evidence that even as the active-duty force draws down, the Marine Corps wants to maintain the strong operational Reserve forged after a decade at war alongside the active component.
Regimental commander Col. Roger Garay predicts a permanent role for such Reserve units in future exercises, including the annual African Lion.
“We’re not going to go back to the old strategic Reserve that we were used to in the past — the break-glass-in-case-of-war and bring them out,” said Garay, an active-duty officer who took command of 14th Marines in June. “We’re doing what our active-duty brothers do all the time, and it showcases some of those significant capabilities from the Reserve side of the Marine Corps.”
The 2012 event runs through April 17 and is followed by 10 days of breakdown and redeployment.
More than 1,000 Marines, and about 200 soldiers, sailors and airmen from across the U.S., are participating. Garay estimates that, among the Marines, there could be several hundred who have never deployed or even left the country.
Members of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which deployed March 29 from Camp Lejeune, N.C., will participate in the event, marking the first time the bilateral exercise includes a MEU. Further broadening the scope of the exercise is the use of a Maritime Prepositioning Force ship out of Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island, Fla. Sending the ship full of gear proved a more cost-efficient method of getting equipment to Morocco than gathering it from across the U.S. and shipping it from various locations, Garay said.
“One of the goals of this year’s African Lion was to increase the complexity of the event, and certainly with the presence of the 24th MEU and the fact that we use MPF gear — that’s huge,” said Garay, who explained that the command-and-control function is earmarked for a colonel-level command, which executes the event on behalf of U.S. Africa Command and Marine Forces Africa.
“How often do you have a combatant command in Africa, with Reserve leadership running the exercise, also conduct an MPF event as part of the venue?” Garay said. “I’m going to guess not too often.”
African Lion’s main exercises will take place at locations along Morocco’s coast.
Headquarters for Task Force Africa Lion will be based in Agadir, a fishing and commercial port. Two KC-130T cargo planes will fly from a base farther north in Kenitra. A training area to the south, Cap Draa, will be the site of a major training exercise with infantry, artillery, light armored reconnaissance and tanks. The event will start on small-arms ranges and graduate to unit integration, fires coordination, maneuver and artillery support, and command and control. In Tiznit, Marine military police will train with law enforcement.
Exotic deployments are the reason many young Americans join the Marines, Garay said, and the opportunities in the Reserve are growing.
The Black Sea Rotational Force, an exercise with 12 Eastern European nations, has grown from just three months and 100 Marines two years ago to six months and 315 in this year’s exercise in Georgia, Bulgaria and Romania, which kicked of March 12 with the participation of reservists.
And the 180 members of Special Marine Air Ground Task Force 12, which served in the Trans-Sahel region along Africa’s Sahara Desert, were replaced April 1 by approximately 130 Marines and sailors assigned to SPMATF 12.2 under the command of 3rd Reconnaissance Company, 4th Marine Division, from Mobile, Ala.
Before Marines head home from Morocco, they will get at least 18 hours of liberty on the ground in Agadir where they’ll get a chance to experience the local culture, people and cuisine, and shop for something to bring home to their families.
“It’s part of morale building, part of retaining these kids so they continue to do this in the years ahead,” Garay said.
TYLER MAIN / DOD
Sgt. Maj. Steven C. Peck, Joint Task Force African Lion sergeant major, speaks to members of 3rd Battalion, 14th Marines. The 14th Marine REgiment is overseeing the 10-day exercise in Morocco.
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