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Marine Corps' Newest Crisis Response Unit Will Be In Kuwait

U.S. Marines Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force board an MV-22B Osprey at Moron Air Base, Spain, May 2014.
USMC
U.S. Marines Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force board an MV-22B Osprey at Moron Air Base, Spain, May 2014.

The Marine Corps will base its newest crisis response unit in Kuwait, according to the Military Times.

Col. Kenneth DeTreux, commander of SPMAGTF-Crisis Response, told reporters at the Pentagon on Sept. 25 that roughly 2,100 troops would be part of the Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force (SPMAGTF) Central Command, and that the unit...

“...is to be deployed in [fiscal] ’15].”

The safety of American personnel in the Middle East, reports Stars and Stripes, is of great concern:

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In recent months, the Pentagon has deployed hundreds of extra troops to Iraq to guard against possible terrorist attacks against the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and other critical facilities. The American embassy in Yemen is also under threat from militants.

As Home Post has previously reported, the Sep. 11, 2012 attack of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi prompted the creation of the the first Marine Air-Ground Task Force crisis-response team, which is based at Morón Air Base in Spain.

The purpose of such crisis response units is to give the military the capability to react swiftly to crises...

...including conducting non-combatant evacuation, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and support to U.S. embassies, and other operations, missions and activities as directed by national and command leadership.