Joint force on way to new mission
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Joel Wallace, with the USS Paul Hamilton, helps tie the Peleliu at pierside at Pearl Harbor.
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Like many of the Marines assigned to the Navy's USS Peleliu, Capt. Bill Pelletier watched buddies go off to fight the war in Iraq and felt a twinge of envy.
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Now that it's the Peleliu's turn, the intensity is palpable.
Marine Maj. Kent Simon, with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is among the troops aboard the USS Peleliu for a stopover at Pearl Harbor. The Peleliu, USS Germantown, USS Ogden, USS Decatur and USS Jarrett — elements of Expeditionary Strike Group One — will leave Monday for the Western Pacific, together with the Pearl-based USS Port Royal and USS Greeneville.
"The intensity is ratcheted up all the time because of the possibility of imminent action," Pelletier said yesterday after the amphibious assault ship tied up at Pearl Harbor.
"I've been on several overseas deployments, but this is the first time for me to go and be looking for a fight."
The Peleliu is part of the Pentagon's newest military strategy — a joint strike force bristling with firepower.
It arrived in Hawai'i yesterday with four other ships, all part of what the Pentagon has dubbed "Expeditionary Strike Group One." The group sailed from San Diego on Aug. 22 and leaves Monday for the Western
Pacific, along with the Hawai'i-based cruiser USS Port Royal and the attack submarine USS Greeneville.
The Pentagon has never before deployed a group like this and likes to describe its potential in the war on terrorism with words like "agility" and "lethality."
With swift, missile-laden Navy ships and Marines and their AV8-B Harrier jets and AH-1 Cobra gunships, that may be an understatement.
Security reasons prevent the military from saying exactly where the group is headed, but its "area of responsibility" will include the Arabian Sea, the Persian Gulf and Iraq.
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The combination, which is part of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's "transformation" philosophy, is a departure from the way the Navy and Marines traditionally operate on deployments. In the past, the Navy would deploy a three-ship task force carrying Marines.
The USS Jarrett sails past the Peleliu's bow.
The expeditionary group is what the Pentagon calls "robust." And bringing its own big guns to the mission is fine with the Navy.
"There are more ships now and we have our firepower now," said Chief Petty Officer Rob Winkler of the Peleliu. "We're not just a taxi service."
It will not be an easy mission, however. In all, 5,000 sailors and Marines will deploy for about eight months, which is two months longer than the average overseas deployment.
"Nobody wants to be away from home, but a lot of our brothers-in-arms are going to have been deployed for nearly a year and there is business that needs to be done," said Maj. Kent Simon, a Marine assigned to the Peleliu. "It's our turn and it's our job. I think, across the board, the Marines are excited about this."
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The Peleliu is the flagship of the group and the floating home to most of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton. There are about 1,200 Marines and roughly the same number of sailors on board.
The amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu, flagship of Expeditionary Strike Group One, is moved into its berth at Pearl Harbor.
Simon, a Marine for nearly 15 years, said the long deployment is tempered by the challenges of this experimental military combination. He has a wife and two stepchildren back in California.
"There's profound excitement and there's some personal sadness," Simon said, as he stood inside the Peleliu's cavernous hangar. "These Marines busted their butts to be able to do this."
As the Marines and sailors milled about the hangar, a banner high on a wall was never out of sight. Between a picture of an American eagle and a burning World Trade Center was written: "Peace and Freedom Will Prevail. We will not waver. We will not tire. We will not falter. We will not fail."
The ship took on fresh supplies almost immediately: fruits and vegetables, meat, ice cream and chips for the vending machines. Sodas, too.
The brief stay also will give sailors and Marines a break before months of work.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeff Galon, a 21-year-old hospital corpsman from Wai'anae, was thrilled to be home, even if it was for two days. He wants a change from Navy food, a plate lunch before he leaves "to see the world."
"You just have to wake up every morning and be motivated and when it's hard, just put a smile on your face," Galon said. "It's going to be really long. You have to prepare yourself mentally."
Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.
