19/12/2024
10/23/2020
“……..With expeditionary sea base operations and island-hopping campaigns as likely future missions, especially across the vast Indo-Pacific region, the Marine Corps has revived its battalion-level units to bolster logistical support for Fleet Marine Forces landing ashore………. I Marine Expeditionary Force reactivated 1st Landing Support Battalion under 1st Marine Logistics Group at Camp Pendleton. The battalion had been deactivated in 1998, when it was part of 1st Force Service Support Group, MLG’s predecessor……….The battalion is one of three active-duty LSBs the Marine Corps is reactivating to support Fleet Marine Forces………the East Coast-based II Marine Expeditionary Force and 2nd MLG officials at Camp Lejeune, N.C., marked the reestablishment of 2nd Landing Support Battalion, previously deactivated in 1979. The Marine Corps is reviving 3rd Landing Support Battalion to support III Marine Expeditionary Force in Hawaii and across the Western Pacific. The driving factor for LSB’s return to support active-duty Fleet Marine Forces, however, isn’t the Marine Corps’ ongoing Force Design 2030 that’s transforming military jobs, changing force structure and divesting some capabilities and units, such as the service’s M1 tank battalions, that aren’t envisioned to be needed in the future force. Rather, the return of LSBs stems from Marine Corps Force 2025 plan that was developed in 2016 to determine how the service would best be structured and organized for threats in a future high-tech operating environment across the range of military operations………The Marine Corps has never fully divested from landing support capabilities, however. In recent years, landing support units remained in transportation battalions, although landing support capability will shift to the new battalions. And in the reserves, the capability resides in Landing Support Company, which falls under Combat Logistics Regiment 45, 4th Marine Logistics Group……….The company is based in Savannah, Ga., and has a Landing Support Detachment in Puerto Rico. Most Marines know LSBs as the ‘Red Patch’ for the red fabric squares affixed to members’ camouflage trouser legs and service covers. The small patch denotes those Marines tasked with providing support on the beach. It dates back to World War II and Guadalcanal, where confusion reigned during that amphibious landing over which Marines on the beach were providing landing support. ‘It was a designation of authority as to who was supposed to remain on the beach to help ensure the throughput of combat power and sustainment ashore while the rest of the forces were flowing ashore’……….. The Marine Corps has varied its landing support capabilities at various levels and by unit designations and deactivations, including in its reserve force. Often, regardless of unit name, ‘Red Patchers’ were referred to as the ‘shore party’ doing work similar to what today’s Navy beachmaster units do to support amphibious operations at landing beaches and surf zones. For example, 2nd LSB activated on Nov. 17, 1941, at Camp Elliott, Calif., as Shore Party Detachment, 2nd Marine Division, and in Feb. 1942, was re-designated as 2nd Pioneer Battalion and supported the island campaigns across the Pacific. It later saw several redesignations and, in 1979, was deactivated. Meanwhile, 1st LSB grew from 1st Pioneer Battalion, which activated on Feb. 7, 1942, and deployed throughout WWII’s Pacific campaigns while undergoing several redesignations. On Oct. 1, 1949, it became 1st Shore Party Battalion, 1st Marine Division, and saw action during the Korean War and later in Vietnam. It deployed as 1st Landing Support Battalion during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, and Operation Restore Hope in Somalia in 1992. The Marine Corps deactivated the battalion in 1998. The Marine Corps Reserve in 2013 deactivated its 4th Landing Support Battalion in 2013. That battalion first saw combat operations during World War II in the Pacific. Decades later, as 4th Shore Party Battalion, members deployed during the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War and later elements supported combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan……… Landing support previously was a company-level capability led by a captain. Unit Marines are skilled in landing support, communications, motor transport, aerial delivery, equipment operations, heavy equipment engineering and maintenance……….. Landing support Marines work with all sorts of units, from loading ships and trains and rigging cargo for airborne movement to driving heavy equipment and controlling airfields. They often are skilled in multiple specialties, which is handy when working in small units in expeditionary locales. ‘Red Patchers can do everything. They have a tendency to improvise, adapt and overcome and fix things that people think is impossible,’……..” ~ US Naval Institute (October 23, 2020)
