Marines and sailors from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit will be conducting training from March 21 to April 9 at Fort Hunter Liggett, Camp Parks, Camp Roberts, Castle Airport and surrounding areas to prepare for their deployment to the Western Pacific, Middle East and Horn of Africa this September.
Training will be continuous during the period but will be most noticeable the evening of 3 April, when the MEU will carry out a practice helicopter raid. This training mission will take Marines via helicopter to and from a designated site to conduct an exercise.
All aspects of this training have been coordinated with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and the Federal Aviation Administration. Any bystander interference with the training will detract from the realism of the scenario, so we ask that the local citizens keep an acceptable distance.
The MEU’s mission is to provide a rapid-response force capable of conducting conventional amphibious and selected maritime special operations from the sea, by surface or by air.
This training exercise is part of the MEU’s work-up cycle, which is a large scale training schedule designed to prepare Marines and Sailors for situations they may encounter while deployed in support of the Global War on Terror.
For further information regarding this training, please contact the 11th MEU Public Affairs Officer, 1st Lt Roger Hollenbeck at (760) 846-4947.