Marines just did their largest air assault in a decade, now they’re going to double it
By: Todd South  
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Marines completed the largest air assault performed here in at least a decade as leadership looks to bring back an old capability for future fights. But in coming years top Marine leaders want an assault twice as big.
For Exercise Steel Pike, nearly 500 Marines in waves loaded onto six CH-53E Super Stallions and eight MV-22 Ospreys to offload and set up a perimeter at a nearby Landing Zone Swallow, meeting an opposing force of more than 60 Marines equipped with all-terrain vehicles and using shoot-and-move style tactics.
Though picking up a few hundred Marines and delivering them into a location a few miles a way may look easy, planning for this event began as early as January, said Lt. Col. Darryl Ayers, battalion commander for 3rd BN, 2nd Marine Regiment here.
https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2019/06/21/marines-just-did-their-largest-air-assault-in-a-decade-now-theyre-going-to-double-it/
