Nassau ESG to deploy — without its Marines

[unhappycamper]

The amphibious assault ship Nassau and its expeditionary strike group will deploy without the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.


Nassau ESG to deploy — without its Marines
By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jan 31, 2008 20:21:28 EST

NORFOLK, Va. — The Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group — a flotilla of amphibs, warships and a submarine — has spent months preparing to take the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit on deployment.

But the Marines are hitching a ride from someone else.

With new orders from the Pentagon to reinforce units in Afghanistan, the 24th MEU will be loading more than 200 of its vehicles on the fast sealift ship Algol in the Port of Wilmington, N.C., on Friday. Members of the MEU, which is based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., will fly to Afghanistan rather than ride the Navy ships.

The MEU’s 2,200 troops, which include an infantry battalion, aircraft and a logistics element, are scheduled to arrive in Afghanistan in the spring, according to an MEU press release.

But that won’t keep the Nassau group from deploying, said ESG spokesman Lt. j.g. Anthony Falvo, who confirmed on Thursday that the strike group will set sail in February — empty.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/navy_nassau_deployment_080131/