Wednesday, February 14th, 1996, Naval Station Rota, Spain
I kept my promise…but only at the last possible moment.
The previous day, the ARG had "chopped" out of the Mediterranean Sea and 6th Fleet command and had started the long voyage home. But before they could do that, they had to stop and clean up after a hard six months on cruise. The stop was at the Spanish Naval Base at Rota (near Cadiz), on the Atlantic coast just north of Gibraltar. The U.S. Navy uses Rota as a rest and inspection stop for units coming home from Europe. Here all the equipment can be washed down, everyone can rest for a few days before the Atlantic crossing, and U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors can check for pests or unwanted plants.
Wasp was moored on the north side of the bay, with Shreveport and Whidbey Island on the south side. All three ships had their vehicles out on the concrete piers; sailors and Marines were washing them down with freshwater. On the nearby beaches, the LCACs and LCUs were beached, also getting cleaned up after a busy cruise. In between was a sizable chunk of the Spanish Navy, including their small aircraft carrier, Principe de Asturias. Off the coast, the America battle group was exercising with a British force based around HMS Invincible. Aircraft came and went from the Naval Air Station. There was a buzz in the air from all the activity. As I marched up the brow, I was greeted by a host of smiles. Keeping promises, even little ones, means a lot to military personnel.
Thursday, February 15th, 1996, Naval Station Rota, Spain
The next day after dinner, I was invited to join Colonel Battaglini, Lieutenant Colonel Allen, and other members of the staff for a detailed briefing on the deployment. It should be noted that I have left out some details that relate to operations security issues, but I think you will understand the basic story. The 1995/96 cruise started with a series of joint international exercises around the Mediterranean. These included:
• COOPERATIVE PARTNER—Shreveport and her embarked units conducted this exercise with the armed forces of Bulgaria between September 14th and 18th, 1995.
• ATLAS HINGE—At the same time as Cooperative Partner (September 17th thru 21st, 1995), Wasp and Whidbey Island ran a series of force-on-force engagements with elements of the Tunisian military. This operation proved the validity of Colonel Battaglini's decision to include the platoon of M1A1 heavy tanks in the TO&E of the 26th. Of particular note was a counterattack conducted by the M1A1s at a critical point in one engagement; it really surprised the Tunisian forces. A Tunisian comment was: "We didn't know you had those things!"
• RESCUE EAGLE II—This was the second in a series of mountain/TRAP exercises that have been conducted in Albania. Run between October 2nd and 14th, 1995, Rescue Eagle II saw Marine units off Wasp obtaining valuable high-altitude and small-unit infantry training for the MEU (SOC).
• ODYSSEUS—Simultaneous with Rescue Eagle II (October 3rd thru 13th, 1995), Odysseus was run with the armed forces of Greece. Marines aboard Shreveport and Whidbey Island provided the forces for Odysseus.
• ISRAEL—Early in the fall, the entire ARG/MEU (SOC) came together for a live-fire training exercise with the Israeli Defense Forces in the Negev Desert. Almost two weeks long (October 22nd to November 7th, 1995), this was one of the larger exercises that the force participated in. Following this, the force was given a short port liberty… which had to be cut short because of the tragic assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Rabin. In fact, several members of the armored task force embarked on Whidbey Island were just a few blocks away drinking beer in an open-air cafe when Mr. Rabin was killed.
• BRIGHT STAR 95—One of the longest-running exercises in the world today, Bright Star provides forces assigned to U.S. Central Command an opportunity to exercise in their AOR. It was based out of Cairo West Airfield in Egypt, and the whole of PHIBRON 4 and the 26th MEU (SOC) were involved, along with numerous other U.S. and allied units. Bright Star 95 ran between November 10th and 17th, 1995, and was highly successful.
• ALEXANDER THE GREAT—Following BRIGHT STAR (November 22nd thru 28th, 1995), Shreveport and Whidbey Island ran another exercise with the armed forces of Greece.
Despite the hectic exercise schedule, there was a real-world crisis to deal with in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the 26th MEU (SOC) and PHIBRON 4 were actively involved in it. During the run-up to the Dayton Peace Agreement and the introduction of the NATO Implementation Force (IFOR), HMM-264's six AV-8B Harrier IIs flew some ninety-nine missions in support of Operation Deny Flight (sixty-three sorties) and Decisive Endeavor (thirty-six sorties) in the Balkans. The MEU (SOC)/ARG was then alerted that their services would be required during the coming IFOR operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina. They were to be ready for any contingency.
The Balkans get cold in the winter, and preparing the force for action involved a major effort. Special cold-weather clothing and rations were delivered to the 26th by mid-November. Because of the multi-national makeup of the IFOR (United States, France, Great Britain, etc.), special consideration had to be given to communications. Numerous hookups were planned around the NATO communications systems. Best of all, the personnel of the MEU (SOC) and ARG now had an Internet link that allowed them to send and receive daily E-mail from home. Along with the obvious materiel upgrades for operating in the Balkans, the staff of the MEU (SOC) ordered additional mine detectors, chains for the vehicles, and a small augmentation force of personnel with skills that might be required for the IFOR mission.
When the preparation was done, the 26th MEU (SOC) and PHIBRON 4 became the IFOR Theater Reserve Force. This meant that during the two months the IFOR ground forces were setting up in their positions on the ground, the ARG would be steaming in wide "doughnut" patterns around the Adriatic. For the rest of the cruise, Colonel Battaglini had to keep his personnel ready and alert. A rigorous drill and exercise program helped, but boredom slowly began to take over. The enlisted personnel started calling the force "the Maytag MEU" (after the terminally bored Maytag repair man in commercials back home). But they worked hard to stay sharp. All the classroom time spent studying ROE, mine detection and clearance, cold-weather operations, and counter-sniper tactics helped. By early February 1996, it was finally time to come home. They handed off to the 22nd MEU (SOC) at sea, and now they were at Rota in the final stages of washdown and reloading the ships. The next day, they would leave at noon for home.