Marine Expeditionary Units Overview

The "Tip of the Spear"
The Marine Corps is a maritime force and is expeditionary in nature. In fact, the Marine Corps' history and legacy is a landing force from the sea.

Today, Marines continue to be trained and equipped to come from the sea and fight America's battles. The unit in the Marine Corps specifically groomed for the contingency battles of the future is the Marine Expeditionary Unit or MEU.

A MEU is based on Naval vessels and is normally built around a reinforced battalion, a composite aircraft squadron, and by a MEU Service Support group totaling about 2,000 personnel in all.

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Commanded by a colonel, the MEU is employed to fulfill routine forward deployments with fleets in the Mediterranean, the Western Pacific, and periodically, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

The MEU's very existence is vital because with the decline of American bases abroad, it's possible that the only U. S. forces available to respond to worldwide crisis quickly will be the Marines. The MEU is an expeditionary intervention force with the ability to rapidly organize for combat operations in virtually any environment.

Each Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) is comprised of four separate elements that uniquely compliment the strengths of the other elements to produce a powerful, culminating, self-sustaining force. The MEU's undergo extensive predeployment training and can be deployed as an independent force or as nucleus for a Joint Task Force.

There are always three MEUs forward deployed The elements of a MEU are as follows:

• MEU Command Element - which is a standing headquarters
• Ground Combat Element- Built on an infantry battalion, which becomes a Battalion Landing Team (BLT) with the addition of tanks, artillery, engineers, amphibious vehicles, light armored vehicles, and other combat support assets
• Aviation Combat Element- A composite squadron of both fixed and rotary wing aircraft
• Combat Service Support Element- MEU Service Support Group - 2200 Troops, 4 Tanks, 13 Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAVs), 22 Helicopters, 6 Tactical Aircraft and 6 Artillery Howitzers

MEU Specialized Training
The Marine Expeditionary Units undergo a rigorous 6 month pre-deployment workup training schedule. The 6 month training the Marines receive prior to the MEU's deployment is second to none. It involves both classroom and practical hands-on exercises designed to provide the Marines of the MEU's detailed information and skills necessary to handle the real-life emergencies and combat they are sure to encounter on their deployment. The applications and exercises teach and reinforce tactics necessary to successfully execute those critical missions the MEU's will face.