(UnitedVoice.com) – At the beginning of October, the Marine Corps announced the sailors and marines in the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit would be participating in training exercises in Kuwait. The Marine Air-Ground task force exercises were supposed to take place from October 8 through October 22. Plans have now changed.
On October 11, Cpt. Angelica White, a spokeswoman for the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, spoke with the Marine Corps Times and revealed that the unit is no longer in Kuwait. She said the service members were told to prepare for new orders because of “emerging events.” The unit was then moved to the vicinity of Bahrain, a country on the coast of the Persian Gulf.
White didn’t tell the website where the unit was going to go next and didn’t mention the war between Israel and Hamas. She followed up and said the unit is “posturing […] in effort to be prepared,” just in case they are needed. The unit is a crisis response force, and it’s ready to take on whatever mission is necessary.
In the past, the Marine expeditionary units responded to the evacuation efforts in Afghanistan, an earthquake in Türkiye, and to evacuate Americans in Sudan.
The unit’s experience with evacuations is noteworthy because the US government began evacuating Americans from Israel on October 13. The White House said US citizens who want to leave can board the charter flights that are taking Americans out of the Middle Eastern nation.
Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, the day before the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit began its training exercises. The terrorists murdered more than two dozen Americans when they launched their attacks.
More US citizens were kidnapped and taken across the border to Gaza. President Joe Biden said his administration is focused on bringing those Americans home. It’s not clear if the POTUS plans to send Special Forces into the region to rescue them.
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