TOULON, France -- Approximately 60 Marines from all three Marine Expeditionary Forces; Marine Corps Forces Europe; Blount Island Command; and Expeditionary Warfare Training Group, Atlantic; bunkered down into the sand here Sept. 28 for two weeks to participate in exercise Brilliant Midas 06.
The Marine portion of Brilliant Midas focused on the expeditionary deployment of the NATO Response Force in the Mediterranean Sea and to maintain and increase Maritime Prepositioning Force familiarization and staff planning skills. Over all Brilliant Midas involved more than 7,000 personnel from 10 NATO nations including: France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The Maritime Prepositioning Force allows for a more expeditionary employment of Marines and consists of 16 ships organized into three squadrons that are constantly forward-deployed to the western Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The ships are configured to transport nearly everything the Marines need for initial military operations -- from tanks and ammunition to food, water, fuel and spare parts. Each squadron carries sufficient equipment and supplies to sustain about 15,000 Marine Corps Air Ground Task Force personnel for up to 30 days and requires Marines who are trained in MPF gear preparation and offloading operations.
“Too many MPF Marines are getting out, and there are too few people who know pre-positioning,” said Michael Harvey, the Prepositioning Plans Officer at Marine Forces Europe, Stuttgart, Germany. Some of these Marines are new to the job and have never been on an MPF ship before, explained Harvey. The MPF is a billet that falls within the Supply and Logistics military occupational specialty and there is no formal school for the Marines to attend. There is a short course, but most of the education comes from on the job training. Having everyone here, in one place makes this exercise very productive for us. The MPF vessels are civilian-owned and operated under long-term charters to the Military Sealift Command, but once the ship arrives at its location, wherever a crisis may arise, the Marines of the MPF go to work.
“MPF is used in any real world contingency, anytime there is any type of major humanitarian aid relief like in the Pakistan earthquake, or tsunami’s. These are usually the first vessels in because they are somewhere close by in the ocean,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 James Childress, an MPF Officer with I MEF from Camp Pendleton, Calif. “We have to get the gear off the ship to where it needs to go, get it repaired it if necessary, and then get it out to the actual warfighter,” said Childress.
At the start of an operation, a group of MPF Marines marries up with the ship to start preparations.
“It is easy to fly 50 Marines on board to get the gear ready as opposed to flying in all the gear and the dozens of forklifts needed, ” said Childress. With the MPF, the Marine commanders don’t have to worry about shipping gear; it’s already where they need it to be.
With Marines already established in Iraq, the MPF has since reloaded their ships and is again on standby for their next mission.
Operation Iraqi Freedom included an 11 ship offload, said Childress. “Since then, all the resident knowledge has moved on to other places. So it is good to get the whole group together and discuss theories and responsibilities.”
Brilliant Midas provided a venue for the Marine MPF team to come together and train by planning the exercise at the MAGTF level as well as boarding the MPF ship, MV 2nd LT John P. Bobo, which was positioned off the southern coast of France, during the exercise.
To do this job you need situational awareness and knowledge of everything on the ships. You need to know what is going on during the deployment, where gear is located, how it is stored, and what equipment needs to be maintained, said Childress.
For example the Humvee battery lifespan is very short compared to how long it needs to be in storage, explained Harvey during training on board the Bobo. He went on to discuss the logistics of how to better store and care for the batteries while underway, and planning for excess batteries to be available during an actual offload.
Also, an important ongoing job of the MPF is keeping abreast of what equipment the Marine Corps is doing away with, and what new equipment is coming out, and how it can will fit on the already loaded ships.
“The [Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle] that is coming out soon is larger than the [Assault Amphibian Vehicle] that is already loaded into the ship, we have to look at how they are going to fit,” said Harvey during a tour of the ship.
While no equipment was offloaded during the exercise, Brilliant Midas supported long-range plans to conduct an actual offload during a 2008 exercise in Australia, and helped enhance the Marines planning competency and address issues and challenges facing the MPF community.
“This exercise is a complete success. I think everyone took a lot away from these two weeks. Now, those who were new to this job will know exactly what to be ready for in Australia,” said Harvey.