‘We Didn’t Have the Ships’ to Send ‘Best Option’ to Help Earthquake Victims, Commandant Says
Incident comes a year after maintenance problems delayed the 22nd MEU’s deployment to Europe.
CAITLIN M. KENNEY | FEBRUARY 15, 2023
MARINE CORPS NAVY
The Marines could not send a large crisis-response unit to Turkey after its devastating earthquake because there weren’t any amphibious ships in the region, the Marine Corps commandant said Wednesday, raising new concerns about the service’s ability to carry out one of its core missions.
“We didn't have a Marine Expeditionary Unit, a MEU, nearby that could respond…I owe the secretary of defense, the President—we joint chiefs owe them options…all the time. Here, I felt like the best option, we couldn't offer them because we have the Marines and the equipment and they're trained, we didn't have the ships,” Gen. David Berger said during an interview with Defense One.
The incident comes a year after Marines with orders to deploy to Europe were delayed because some of the amphibious readiness group ships they were supposed to use were not out of maintenance in time.
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2023/02/we-didnt-have-ships-send-best-option-help-earthquake-victims-commandant-says/383018/
