Smooth logistics usher Marines into Peru

		23rd Marine Regiment brings more to chow than MRE’s 24th Marines cover Chilean coast by convoy 24th Marines train in heart of Chilean Marine history 3/25’s Marines play MOUT insurgents at Raspberry City Belle Chasse helicopter squadron readies for deployment Combat simulators grow more sophisticated Conway adds book to reading list for Marines Field Food Service Support Marines brighten days with hot chow Lance corporals get a new MCI Marines hit the mark alongside Chilean brothers-in-arms Marines offload, train in Chilean desert Martial Arts Program makes its mark in Chile MFR honors mayor with ceremonial shell casing MFR names civilian of the year MNF-W Marine lives double life of heroism Ohio town dedicates memorial plaza in honor of hometown hero Peru’s Marine Headquarters welcomes 24th Marines Reserve Marines reinforce 2nd Supply Reserve unit conducts training Responsive corpsman honored by 24th Marines Service members bring training, humanitarian aid to Senegal Smooth logistics usher Marines into Peru Study: Overhaul VA disability ratings system Talisman Saber 2007; Americans and Australians join forces in the Australian winter Task Force 24 reaches out to Chilean needy They take a licking, but keep on ticking – 25th Marine Regiment holds their own despite being outnumbered Training enhanced through exchanges in Chile Two Marines, part of Boston’s finest, are sent to Australia in support of Talisman Saber `07 U.S., Peruvian Marines seize the objective in expeditionary ops
News - 2007.06

Smooth logistics usher Marines into Peru Story by Maj. Dan Huvane, Headquarters Marine Corps	View Associated Images difficulty in judging the waves when rushing to get back on the LCU.” The available drivers, members of the core staff of SPMAGTF 24, each managed to drive a vehicle onto the LCU from the ship’s well deck, ride the craft to shore, drive it off onto the landing beach, join a convoy to the base, stage the vehicle, catch a ride back to the beach, then board an LCU returning to the ship to do it all over again with another wave. One driver who made three such trips was Sgt. Anthony A. Davis of Harlem, N.Y., chief of the Secure Mobile Anti-jam Reliable Tactical Terminal. He spoke of the challenges faced in a day of offloading multiple heavy vehicles, not least of which was maintaining control of a seven-ton truck when making narrow turns that the minivan leading the way can easily navigate. “Not taking out a telephone pole, that was a challenge,” said Davis, who serves as SMART-T chief and training noncommis-sioned officer at Communications Company, Headquarters Battalion, 4th Marine Division in Cincinnati, Ohio. “But most challenging was making an amphibious landing with a SMART-T, which is never really done. Once the water reaches the tailgate, it becomes dead-lined and of no use to us at all.” “The key to success was correct, proper planning – having enough drivers in the right place at the right time, and ensuring those drivers are capable of operating those vehicles,” added Davis. Prior to embarking on the ship, Paulsen was responsible for supervising the transportation of vehicles and gear from Kansas City, home of 24th Marine Regiment, to San Diego. There were also vehicles and gear to be gathered from other units across the country, from Seal Beach, Calif., to New Orleans, and the loading of those vehicles onto the ship by LCU in Coronado Bay. The task of escorting the vehicles through the remaining deployment and back to the ship’s homeport, then dispersing them to their units, will shift to Dempsey. “The final gear turn-in is a challenge,” said Dempsey, who spent over three years with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in Okinawa working embarkation issues. “We can’t work on our desired schedule, but whatever it takes to get the job done safely, we’ll do it.”
ANCON, Peru (June 25, 2007) -- Marines and sailors deployed in South America continue to ensure that complicated and potentially cumbersome logistics do not slow down the many movements of Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force 24 this exercise. Following a timely and efficient loading of the USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52) in Iquique, Chile, June 10, the Marines and sailors of SPMAGTF 24 and Commander Destroyer Squadron 40 conducted a successful offload of Marines, vehicles and gear onto the beach at Ancon, Peru, by Landing Craft Unit. Now that same logistics capability is supporting multiple convoys to the field for training with Peru’s Infanteria de Marina, or Marine Corps. “We have intelligent and capable Marines that were basically on auto pilot,” said Capt. Shawn D. Tyson of Bettendorf, Iowa, logistics officer for SPMAGTF 24. “We had a good plan laid out, and guys simply executed on their own. Marines figure it out,” added Tyson, the Inspector-Instructor of General Support Maintenance Company, 4th Maintenance Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group in Rock Island, Ill. Comprised of elements of 24th Marine Regiment and attachments from Marine Forces Reserve and other units, SPMAGTF 24 is deployed in support of Partnership of the Americas 2007, an annual exercise conducted to increase regional security and cooperation among nations of the Western Hemisphere. Gunnery Sgt. Brian M. Paulsen of Colecamp, Mo., has served as acting officer in charge of the “Boat Riders,” Marines who stay onboard the ship throughout a deployment to maintain and position vehicles and equipment, since boarding the Pearl Harbor in San Diego on March 3. He and his seven Marines transited the Panama Canal and made port calls in Panama, Brazil and Argentina, even sailing through the Straits of Magellan, before the rest of SPMAGTF 24 met the ship in Valparaiso, Chile. “Everybody was clicking, moving fast and working well with one another,” said Paulsen, now returning stateside, of the recent on-load and off-load evolutions. “The young Marines didn’t need to be told much – they were proactive, not reactive.” Staff Sgt. Danuel J. Dempsey of Ithaca, N.Y., motor transport chief for SPMAGTF 24, will pick up the duty of embark representative aboard ship when the vehicles are loaded back onboard. He pointed out that the offload at Ancon was accomplished with a small number of Marines who were needed for multiple trips, due to the gap between one group of Marine reservists who had returned home and another who had not yet arrived in South America. “I’m pretty impressed, given the lack of manpower and the rotating of the drivers, that we made it work,” said Dempsey. “Some of us even had to get wet, due to the