| 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit |
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The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (24th MEU) is one of seven Marine Expeditionary Unit s currently in existence in the United States Marine Corps . The Marine Expeditionary Unit is a Marine Air Ground Task Force with a strength of about 2,200 personnel. The MEU consists of a command element, a reinforced infantry battalion, a composite helicopter squadron and a MEU service support group. The 24th MEU is currently based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune , North Carolina . MISSION The mission of the MEU is to provide geographic combatant commanders with a forward-deployed, rapid-response force capable of conducting conventional amphibious and selected maritime special operations at night or under adverse weather conditions from the sea, by surface and/or by air while under communications and electronics restrictions. HISTORY Early years What is today the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) was activated at various times as the 34th Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU) to participate in exercises and operations in the North Atlantic, Mediterranean and Caribbean . In May 1982, it was redesignated the 24th MAU and served twice as part of the multinational peace-keeping force in Lebanon (October 1982 through February 1983, and May through November 1983). The 24th MAU lost 221 in the 1983 Beirut Barracks Bombing . It continued to make routine six-month deployments to the Mediterranean during the next six years while also providing forces for operations in the Persian Gulf . The 24th MAU was redesignated the 24th MEU in February 1988. 1990s On April 16, 1991, following Operation Desert Storm , elements of the 24th MEU, along with other U.S. and allied forces, were mobilized to complete a mission of mercy on behalf of the Kurdish people in Turkey and northern Iraq . During Operation Provide Comfort , the MEU delivered food, supplies and medicine and transported Kurds to “safe havens” and temporary tent cities. The 24th MEU took part in Operation Restore Hope and Operation Continue Hope , in Somalia during March and April 1993 . The MEU furthered its mission by providing humanitarian aid to the Somalis by transporting much needed food and aid to many remote areas of the country. The MEU then turned eastward, entering the Adriatic Sea , where from May to June 1994 , it served in support of Operation Provide Promise and Operation Deny Flight in Bosnia-Herzegovina . Immediately upon returning from its six-month deployment, the 24th MEU, always vigilant, redeployed to the waters of the Caribbean, off the coast of Haiti . The MEU served there from July to August 1994 as part of Operation Support Democracy . In June 1995 , elements of the 24th MEU launched a daring, daylight Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel mission to rescue Air Force Captain Scott O’Grady , who had been shot down over Bosnia-Herzegovina six days earlier. |
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