ANALYSIS โ It was 100 operators from SEAL Team Six and the Army's 3rd Special Forces Groupย that evacuated over 70 American personnel from our embassy in Sudan.ย
They used special ops MH-47 helicopters and flew the diplomats and their dependents to safety at a U.S. base in Djibouti on the Gulf of Aden.
As I noted earlier, a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) steaming offshore with multiple ships, helicopters, and trained troops would have normally been a primary option to perform the mission, but due to budget constraints and a dearth of amphibious ships, no MEU was available nearby.
That was disheartening to me and many Marines.
I served with a MEU in the Pacific and trained for these same missions. Back then, we had a SEAL Team onboard as part of the MEU. That appears to be happening again now.
But 12 U.S. Marines posted at the embassy in Khartoum from theย Marine Corps Embassy Security Groupย did their part in the Sudan rescue operation.
And other Marines and their MEU are currently training to do the exact same evacuation operation in the future. And likely working more closely with maritime special operations forces.
Referring to the Sudan embassy Marines, a spokesman for Marine Corps Embassy Security Groupย told theย Marine Corps Times:
Their relationships with our interagency partners at the Department of State, in particular the Diplomatic Security Service, ensured swift coordination. Their actions maintained security during a critical time and resulted in a safe movement out of Khartoum to return personnel to the U.S.
Marines have been assigned to protect U.S. embassies and consulates since 1948. Marine embassy security forces also helped in the evacuations of the U.S. embassies in Kabul in 2021 and Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2022.
โOur Marines who protect many of our embassies overseas do not often get the credit they deserve,โ Christopher Maier, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, said inย a State Departmentย news briefingย following the evacuation.
I can also attest to that, as I proudly served at multiple U.S. embassies with these well-trained jarheads as a Marine and Naval Attachรฉ (military diplomat).
Meanwhile, reported Military.com, โJust hours after helicopters finished bringingย 70 employees out of the American embassy in Sudan, halfway across the world, the Marines of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) started practicing for the same type of mission.โ
U.S. Naval Institute Newsย reportedย on the mock crisis training:
For five days, a U.S. consulate in the tiny country of Obsidian had been surrounded by protestors who were upset with the American presence in their coastal nation. Fomented by an armed opposition group, the situation for the State Department staff, Marine guards and Americans in the region had become increasingly unstable.
First, additional Marines supported the guards by flying in as extra security. Then a command element from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit reinforced the Marines at the consulate. Finally, the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group sailed off the coast of Obsidian, prepared to fly off Americans and others in harm's way aboard the 26th MEU's MV-22 Osprey tiltrotors in aย non-combatant evacuation operation โ NEOย โ anย actionย undertaken by the Department of Defense at the request of State.
Obsidian is actually a small section of North Carolina around Camp Lejeune, but the scenario shares similarities with several previous emergency evacuations and exercises the MEU's ability to pull off a NEO.
This is exactly the type of scenarioย I trained for with the MEU decades ago. It shouldn'tย be something new.
Miltary.comย added:
The exercise, held atย Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and aboard a trio ofย Navyย ships off the coast, was not only an opportunity for Marines to practice extracting noncombatants from dangerous situations, it also foreshadows a growing partnership between the maritime branch andย special operationsย forces.
Col. Dennis Sampson, the MEU commander, told reporters aboard the USS Bataan on Monday thatย they made an effort to include more training with theย Navy SEALs.
โWhat is unique for us, is we've actually attached them to the MEU,โ Sampson explained before noting that this โmakes us more relevant when you get into a theater and there's a crisis.โ
Jonathan Berger, a State Department adviser to Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC),ย also notedย that cooperation between the agency that runs embassies and consulates and special operations units โis increasing.โ
โWe've got a team now embedded in the embassy in Jakarta, for example. โฆ We've got folks working in Taiwan,โ Berger said before naming locations in the Philippines.
Considering that embassy reinforcement and non-combatant evacuation were part of the Marines' bread and butter back in the late 1980s, when I was with a MEU, and even as far as the 1990s when I was posted at U.S. embassies, it's good to see the Marines are finally re-emphasizing this core mission.
It's also good to see MARSOC, State Department and Special Operations Command remembering the vital role Marines and a MEU can play in any similar crisis.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions ofย American Liberty News.
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6 Comments
Paul, in the old days we used to say MEUs had the mission of “in extrimis hostage rescue” meaning special ops guys if available were usually the force of choice. I don’t know what the pecking order is today because I retire 20 years ago. Frankly, I don’t care who gets them out as long as it’s done.
Benghazi 2.0 ?
Yes or no?
Wheres the Marines??
Like Beghazi BUT NOT lots of Americans killed though
Dear God in Heaven, President Biden! You are downgrading ourmilitary. To a useless level. You cant evacuate Americans in numerous incidents and we who are stuck there cant fight!
We can also thank BLM for burning up the Bonhomme Richard in San Diego in 2020. The investigation revealed that the arsonist sympathized with BLM and were local members, and that the fire was completely intentional.
Ask the MORON in the white house – afterall he IS the CIC, maybe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!