Source: United States INDO PACIFIC COMMAND
Meanwhile, choppy seas gift some sailors and Marines with glazed eyes, upset stomachs, and pounding headaches. Thankfully, the sea sickness is only temporary. Carter zealously declares to those onboard that the ship, its crew, and its embarked Marine Corps landing force is indeed ready for whatever may come as they transit the Indo-Pacific.
“When I say we’re ready, I want everyone to know that we’re ready for battle,” says Carter, a Georgia native, as he concentrates his iron gaze. “I have my full complement. I have my Navy team and my Marine team onboard, so when the time comes to face the enemy, we’re ready for combat.”
While underway, those on USS San Diego from Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 2/4, Combat Logistics Battalion (CLB) 31, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 262, and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) train their combat and crisis response skills, while providing a forward, lethal, and ready presence in the region.
Between bright red valves, coiled orange hoses, and white overhead lights, and amidst the hums, rumbles, whistles, and groans of pipes and diesel engines, the Marines in woodland camouflage utilities haul their M4 service carbines, deployer bags, and combat kits. Over 500 strong, they quickly fill every corner of the ship.
As day breaks, the ship anchors to collect deployment supplies, a harbinger of the rigorous planning cycles and high-speed missions right around the corner. Never ones to waste a training opportunity, the Marines of BLT 2/4’s artillery battery, known as “Guardian,” scrub salt-soaked cannons in the vehicle stowage area, so the imposing M777 howitzers are rust-free and primed for gun drills.
On the flight deck above, where guns, trucks, amphibious craft, and other machines of war pose with menacing readiness, four AH-1Z Cobra and three UH-1Y Huey helicopters stand fiercely, demonstrating 85,000 pounds of air dominance. Behind them, the U.S. flag sways with dignity in the cool breeze. In the thundering water 50 feet below, waves crash and tumble against San Diego’s hulking, storm gray stern. Dawn hints at a bright morning, as the amphibious ship sets sail for its first patrol of the year.
When called upon, the 31st MEU and the USS America Amphibious Ready Group’s (ARG) complementary response capability is essential to the region. The Marines exhibit what they are renowned for worldwide: a maritime expeditionary force, always prepared to fight and win in any environment.
“First and foremost, we’re here to be a crisis response force,” says Maj. Joshua Abraham, the commander of Marines aboard San Diego and the executive officer of BLT 2/4, participating in his fourth ARG/MEU deployment. “We do small boats, we have artillery onboard, and we can go to war for up to 30 days with very little outside logistical support.”
Clicking his pen and glancing at the rising sun outside his office’s porthole window, Abraham recalls the Marine Corps’ promotional poster titled “the world’s 911 force,” posted in every recruiting office when he joined 25 years ago.
“The 31st MEU is the definition of that,” says the Ohio native.
In practice, the staff and officers aboard San Diego rehearse their rapid response planning process (R2P2), brief key missions to the staff, and command and control troops while separated by the bluest reaches of the ocean. On the other end of the radio waves, Marines apply their proven tactics in new environments, adapting to an increased array of variables.
Among the planned missions are boat company raids, gun drills by the artillery battery, and field operations by the BLT’s Combined Anti-Armor Team (CAAT) and Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) platoons. These elements rehearse their ability to offload from a ship, voyage atop the ocean using the Navy’s surface connectors, and then tactically disembark their weapons, equipment, and personnel on a beach for follow-on operations.
Designed to assault the beach first, Boat Company, or “Fury,” propels 18 recently produced Enhanced Combat Rubber Reconnaissance Craft (E-CRRC). Compared to the legacy CRRC, the E-CRCC brings increased load-bearing capacity as well as improved ride quality, speed, stability, and seakeeping in heavy seas. Tapped to field this cutting-edge vessel for the first time, company commander Capt. John Weber of Nebraska and his crew spent eight months developing standard operating procedures. Boat Company’s efforts during this patrol serve as a proof of concept and set the tone for Marine Corps small boat operations going forward.
Fury’s function is to secure beaches, conduct raids, and pull critical information to facilitate further actions or follow-on operations.
“As a raid force, we go in and get as much information as possible to build the next attack, defense, or seizure of key terrain,” says Sgt. Wyatt Miller, an Oregon native and a Boat Company, 3rd platoon squad leader.
Other capabilities of Boat Company when reinforced with their enablers include explosive ordnance disposal, electronic jamming, obstacle reduction, tactical site exploitation, and prosecution and interrogation of high value targets.
Just days after embarkation, Fury trains for their night raid, a dynamic evolution which distinguishes their lethal skillset. The night raid launches from over the horizon, undetectable by land. With engines suspended off of the ship’s stern gate and the assistant coxswain ready to spark the engine, San Diego’s well deck crew drops the gate, the Marines gently plant their oars in its rivets, push off, and motor into a vast blackness, penetrated only by city lights far off and shimmering stars above. Showered from a surprise swell followed by an aggressive dunk, they invade a foggy lair of white caps and whipping winds. The command boat sets on its course barely ahead of the tailing raid force. On his third float with an ARG/MEU, Staff Sgt. Kevin Estrada, Boat Company’s chief coxswain, directs the aquatic ensemble using his military-grade glow sticks to wave a carefully rehearsed set of signals.
“It’s clandestine,” says Estrada, the New York native. “Being able to get a small force on the beach as the initial foothold is a pretty significant advantage.”
With the rest of the formation mimicking Estrada’s motions, they discreetly charge towards shore. 1st Lt. Tony Crisafi of Ohio, the chief navigator, applies principles of maritime navigation to maneuver the disciplined company. Subconsciously drilling their procedures for down boat, lost boat, and man in the water, Marines guide the sleek watercraft through muffled splashes and dips toward the battalion landing site.
As open water gives way to thrashing surf, scout swimmers slide out of the boat to swim ashore, eliminate any local threats, assess the waves, and mark the ideal boat path using initial terminal guidance only visible from the water. Breaking the surf is the most dangerous phase of their mission. However, razor-sharp planning by Weber and the crew buys readiness for every contingency. Upon arrival, the company conceals their E-CCRCs and pursues the next objective.
“I think Boat Company is exceptionally ready, and we’re struggling to find the next rung on the ladder to climb,” says Miller. “We have easily the best leaders in the business, and we have the best men for the job right now.”
1st Lt. Tucker Leigland, a Minnesota native, and 1st Lt. Jack Newton of Texas command the CAAT and LAR platoons as their coyote tan and forest green vehicles go from ship to shore on Landing Craft, Air Cushions (LCACs), high-speed, fully amphibious hovercraft. While ashore on Okinawa, they rumble through complex live fire ranges in tandem with the artillery element’s simulated fires, bringing the combined arms concept to life.
CAAT platoon, or “Reaper,” is generously endowed with eight combat-ready trucks: four mounted with the M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun, two with the Mk-19 grenade launcher, and two with the highly lethal M41A7 Saber missile system, which fires a tube-launched, optically-tracked, and wire-guided (TOW) missile. The Saber trucks also mount an M240B machine gun.
Together, CAAT and LAR, or “Wolfpack,” will insert on the beach, demonstrating the 31st MEU’s surface quick reaction force (QRF) capability.
“From there, we’ll do patrolling lanes in the jungle, water purification, survival skills, and shelter building,” explains Saber vehicle commander Sgt. Anthony Linn from Texas. “A couple vehicles from CAAT will occupy a support by fire position while fire teams are patrolling, taking contact, and maneuvering.”
While Linn embraces the challenge of honing their jungle warfighting skills, Leigland highlights the risk of directing his platoon and Reaper’s vehicles through today’s contested spaces. With the capabilities of high-tech equipment for geolocation, CAAT platoon faces greater demands to conceal itself. Leigland stresses their need to function with less support and as smaller elements.
“Marines have to learn how to forge for their own sustainment, purely dismounted. We have a lot of Marines that grew up in rural areas and know how to hunt and fish,” says Leigland. “We need to learn how to do those things, like how to build a shelter that’s not observable and securely store all of our weapons.”
Equipped to rain volleys of 155mm high-explosive rounds, 1st Lt. Madison Meyer from Texas commands BLT 2/4’s 2nd artillery platoon. Following CAAT and LAR, they land on the beach with their guns perched on monstrous trucks, all ferried ashore by the LCACs. Then, the truck drivers drive the guns through the sand, a first for this platoon but a must, in order to be proficient on island terrain. Beyond the beach, they arrive to their destination, reconnoiter a position, set the cannons in place, and drill their gun-firing procedures, simulating fire support for the battalion. For Meyer’s platoon of 32 Marines, this is no simple task; they embody her values of trust, tempo, and attention to detail, remaining always ready.
Force Design revived the idea of eight-gun artillery batteries with four-gun platoons, shifting from batteries that marshaled two platoons of three guns. Embarking four howitzers on San Diego, Guardian battery validates this pivot toward increased fire support capabilities for the maneuvering ground force.
“As far as survivability and force of fires, we’re going in the right direction,” explains Meyer, with a comforting assurance. “It’s a higher signature to manage, but being able to provide the firepower of four guns versus three helps the units we’re supporting.”
There are several measures in place to reduce the visibility of Guardian’s howitzers, policed by their local security chief and cannoneer Cpl. Lok Chauhan of Nepal. Meyer illustrates how radar-scattering camouflage nets and obscuration in the tree line until the moment of fire help to prevent detection by unmanned aerial surveillance.
From their training, Meyer hopes her Marines recognize their greater role in the Fleet Marine Force, which is more than just eight Marines digging holes to lay guns, loading rounds and powders, and reciting verbal safety checks.
“That round downrange is prepping for infantry to come through or suppressing an enemy air defense so that air assets can prosecute a target,” says Meyer. “And being on time is important, because if you’re a late shot by three to seven seconds, you’re aborting the mission. We can’t afford to abort a mission.”
Marine Corps training and employment on San Diego is a keen reflection of Force Design. Abraham points to the “maritime-type operations” and distributed framework that form the BLT’s identity during this patrol.
“Part of Force Design is also trusting subordinate leaders to do the job when you can’t be there,”
says Abraham. “Doing things like this, you’ll have somebody down to the squad level making decisions that have strategic implications.”
BLT 2/4, nicknamed “The Magnificent Bastards” in September of 1966, is mostly manned by infantry and artillery Marines, so the 31st MEU resources them with capabilities from the rest of the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF). These external enablers include Marines from the radio battalion, supply and logistics teams, aviation support, the counterintelligence/human intelligence section, a combat engineer element, and more.
Being the only representative from her section, Cpl. Sabrina Chouinard of Indiana, serves as the disbursing agent for the landing force aboard San Diego. An augment to the BLT from CLB-31, the 23-year-old assumes pecuniary liability for thousands of dollars locked in a safe just five steps from her office chair. On the ship, Chouinard manages the Navy Cash Card system, which allows Marines to make purchases from the ship store, and in garrison, she books any flights via the defense travel system (including unexpected emergencies or medical evacuations). Should it be required, she goes ashore with contractors to make cash payments and conduct foreign exchanges on behalf of the BLT.
“Having this huge field safe is a weight on my shoulders,” says Chouinard. “But whenever Marines come in and need field materials or ranks, or they’re running low on shampoo or wet wipes, those are the essentials that we can cover.”
Cpl. Tyler Sturges, a data systems administrator from California, sets up the graphic user interface on the Marines’ computers and manages their servers, enabling the landing force to access secure internet from the ship without becoming vulnerable to cyber threats. With other Marines from the S-6 communications section, he embarked three months early to build the network on the ship. During exercises ashore, they can support the ground units by acting as a communication node on the move, providing a mobile network.
Georgia native Sgt. Anthony Pitts, an avionics technician, services the four Cobras and three Hueys that land and lift off of San Diego’s flight deck. With the 12-hour day crew, he solves electrical issues, including anything from troubleshooting errors with the navigation systems to replacing frayed wires.
As propellers whip and whirl, gathering lift like a lens gathers light, Pitts assesses for anything unusual. Idling perfectly, the Cobra soars off to a mission. Upon its graceful hover back to San Diego, the ship’s flight deck crew, donning yellow jackets, catches the aircraft and taxis it towards its destination. Pitts and his team move the helicopter out of the way for other aircraft to launch, shackle it to the deck with bronze-colored chains, and fold its majestic propeller blades.
“On ship, it’s a smaller group, but we try to support more missions,” says Pitts. “It’s a demanding tempo.”
A key progression of Force Design is furthering the Marine Corps’ cooperation with the Navy.
“We work together, we live together, we fight together, because we’re a team,” says Carter. “One team one fight, across the board.”
The Navy team plays a crucial role in ensuring the troops aboard San Diego can execute missions efficiently, from doing the time-space analysis to land troops promptly to throwing lines with monkey’s fists to recover Marines after a small boat raid.
Marines work closely with the Navy’s combat cargo personnel and LCAC pilots to synchronize the minute details of deploying from ship to shore.
“They offer us a wide range of maneuverability, and that is huge, especially when it comes to whatever threats may come,” says Miller. “They can get us closer to shore.”
Chouinard, who works in an integrated administrative office with Navy personnel specialists, appreciates learning about their rates and their collateral responsibilities to the ship.
“For them, it’s ‘I do this job, but I will also go out and do maintenance,’” says Chouinard with admiration, as sailors dash around her with files and folders in hand. “They all take care of the ship, because the ship is their home.”
At the junior enlisted level, the Marine force jumps into shipboard life with their Navy counterparts, providing a “ship’s tax” of personnel to support daily tasks that ensure the successful operation of their home at sea. These duties include doing laundry, giving haircuts, washing dishes, serving food, managing the ship’s store, and operating forklifts to move cargo.
Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) events promote camaraderie between the two branches. Petty Officer First Class Timothy Cloutier, a religious program specialist and Arizona native, rallies sailors and Marines on the mess deck for game nights or ice cream socials.
Between missions and with their phones veiled by airplane mode for operational security, the Marines improvise at entertainment. At lunch in the wardroom, officers explore riveting rabbit-holes from the “Red Rising” series by science fiction author Pierce Brown over a steaming plate of rice, corn, meatloaf, and salad. At the galley, enlisted Marines bicker about the quality of the animated comedy “Turbo,” while lifting heaping forkfuls of macaroni-and-cheese with chicken, lathered in spices and barbecue sauce. Of course, every table welcomes the “I-remember-this-one-time” war stories and the comedy lore from years of service around the world, laughing along with the vessel’s bobbing list and trim.
After lunch, Marines turn to various personal and professional pastimes. Marines teach classes to each other on the spectrum of imaginable topics, from Meyer’s classes on English or principles of fire support to Miller’s instruction on urban operations or the human factors of combat.
“Everybody’s living together. Everyone’s got nothing better to do than train and improve themselves,” explains Linn. “It’s a good time to focus on your job, your craft, and integrate with other people.”
All Marines value the spare time to work out and improve their physical stamina, not only for their combat readiness, but also anticipating their upcoming physical fitness test (due annually in July).
Buoyed by the roll and sway of their floating home, Marines dodge through the ship’s labyrinth of corridors, hidden chambers, air-locked doors, and cascading ladder wells to find the sacred cardio gym.
Ship life, much like any isolated experience without cellular connectivity, drives some Marines toward a valuable kind of introspection, where they explore personal or spiritual growth.
Wisconsin native Cpl. Chase Harris, a data systems administrator, and Cpl. Harrison Finney, a boat chief from Georgia, co-lead the ship’s weekly Bible study in the chapel. Here, Marines huddle school chairs in a circle, dissect character-building literature on their fold-over desks, and challenge their spiritual disciplines.
Marines switch on their overhead rack lights and read a gripping fantasy novel or a meaningful self-help book. They watch movies like “Star Wars” and “Creed,” to spur their sense of justice and resilience, or they crowd around a computer monitor to unplug, playing video games like “Super Smash Bros.,” “Red Dead Redemption,” and “Cyber Punk.”
Re-racking their weights and lodging their bookmarks, the Marines flock to their berthings to clean up and enjoy the last meal of the day.
Twilight lulls the lively ship the way the last ember dims in a hearth. BLT 2/4 Chaplain Lieutenant Andrew Wyns from Canada, serenades his sailing comrades over the 1MC with a nightly prayer, signing off with the ship’s mantra: “Stay Classy, San Diego.” Wyns is a cherished member of the BLT family, often found laughing among the Marines. A reminder that every Marine is a rifleman, 43-year-old Wyns paddles with the Boat Company at night and rolls with CAAT, LAR, and the artillery battery by day.
Low tide swells to high like the hours on Meyer’s Garmin watch, as she reports for her 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. watch officer post in the Landing Force Operations Center (LFOC). The LFOC, full of screens, phones, documents, and whiteboards, is the command node for Marine Corps operations aboard the ship. For the next six hours, security and response are Meyer’s sole focus.
Even as they lie on their snug, unsophisticated 6-by-3 racks to chase any semblance of rest, the ship keeps steaming along and the Marines remain ready. Stacked up four racks high in a 40-man berthing, some Marines watch “The Pacific,” others play card games like Old Maid or Spades, a group hurls unbelievable stories back and forth during the wee hours, and the rest pull closed their rack curtains to finally sleep. Inevitably, the pressed voices of sailors disrupt the silent night and icy berthing air. They rip over the 1MC to fire off engineering directions, relay announcements, and signal man overboard drills.
“Secure flight quarters!” sounds across the ship’s speakers to cue the end of helicopter flights from San Diego’s flight deck.
But within the aircraft hangar bay, inside and outside of each helicopter frame, and atop makeshift tables and spare parts, pockets of subdued red light and warm, muted green flicker on and off against the backdrop of pitch-black night. Diligent mechanics quietly tap, twist, and tinker ahead of a full slate of flights tomorrow.
Although stars spatter around a waking moon, tempting drowsiness and complacency, San Diego stays vigilant.
The Marines of BLT 2/4, under the 31st MEU construct, travel from their duty station in Camp Pendleton, California, to execute this six-month rotation in Okinawa, Japan. Supporting deployments at sea with the ARG/MEU team, they naturally miss home, and home misses them.
Because the Marine Corps draws outdoor enthusiasts, most Marines miss the sunshine, the outdoors, and physical exercise on land, where they can run unaffected by the relentless rocking of San Diego.
Chouinard, who is thrilled about this deployment with the 31st MEU, realizes the duality of professional development and the periods of separation, both bestowed by the Marine Corps experience.
“I’ve wanted to go on ship since I was a [private first class], because I had a bunch of corporals who loved it,” says Chouinard.
Her husband Phillip, a machinist and prior Marine, stays at home with their cat, Kiara.
“When we were about to pull off from White Beach, and Phillip started crying, I told him it’s only a short time,” remembers Chouinard. “But he knows that this is my job and I’m passionate about it.”
Meyer reminisces about Extra Toasty Cheez-Its, her 11-year-old black Labrador, Sage, and her husband, 1st Lt. Ryan Tupper, a fire direction officer with Delta Battery, 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment. Delta Battery employs the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
“He’s jealous. He wanted two things: he wanted cannons and he wanted to be on ship,” Meyer says with a tease. “He loves HIMARS, though. It’s such a high-level asset and just a different scope of artillery.”
Having been to 28 countries, Abraham always misses the United States and his beloved golf game. But most of all, he misses his wife, Kristin, of 20 years.
“The longer I’ve been in, the harder it’s been to leave,” says Abraham. “This was the hardest to leave her ever.”
Repressing his desire for California surf sessions and his army green, black-rimmed Toyota Tacoma, Leigland embraces the sense of urgency on a warship.
When Linn thinks of his wife, Jessica, and his dogs, Gunner and Maya, he is also reminded of his oath to defend the Constitution of the United States and those he loves most.
The mindset that rallies all Marines onboard San Diego is that they are a combat-credible, forward-deployed crisis response unit–they must be ready. Even as they miss loved ones, favorite hobbies, and finer comforts, the message onboard the ship is resounding: now is the time to focus on the mission.
Again, midnight falls upon San Diego. The ship’s frame shudders with a wide-awake energy as it sails over 500 Marines and sailors around the clock, delivering elite warfighters with their battle assets and staying ready for the call.