8th Communications Battalion
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8th Communication Battalion (8th Comm) is a
communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
battalion in the
United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
. It is part of the
II Marine Expeditionary Force The II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force consisting of ground, air and logistics forces capable of projecting offensive combat power ashore while sustaining itself in combat without external assistance for a ...
(II MEF) and is headquartered at
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune () is a United States Armed Forces, United States military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Its of beaches make the base a major area for Amphibious warfare, amphibious assault training, and its ...
,
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
.


Mission

On order, deploy task-organized, self-sustaining combat-ready detachments capable of providing command, control, communications, and computer (C4) support to CG MARFORLANT, CG II MEF, Subordinate
MAGTF Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF, pronounced MAG-TAF) is a term used by the United States Marine Corps to describe the principal organization for all missions across the range of military operations. MAGTFs are a balanced air-ground, combined ar ...
, and
MEU The Meu () is an long river in the Côtes-d'Armor and Ille-et-Vilaine '' départements'', north western France. Its source is at Saint-Vran, west of the village. It flows generally southeast. It is a right tributary of the Vilaine into which i ...
Commanders, in support of Joint and/or Combined operations in any environment and across the spectrum of combat alls conflict.http://www.marineparents.com/units/Print.asp?ID=116 @ MarineParents.com


History

What is known today as 8th Communication Battalion was activated 15 January 1951 at
Camp Geiger Camp Geiger is a United States Marine Corps base. Although not geographically connected, Camp Geiger is part of the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune complex, and is home to the United States Marine Corps School of Infantry East for all Marines rec ...
, North Carolina, as the 2d Signal Operations Company, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic. The unit was reassigned and relocated to its current location at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina on 1 April 1951 to Force Troops, Fleet Marine Force and re-designated 24 November 1952 as 8th Signal Battalion, Force Troops, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic. The unit was again re-designated 2 August 1954 as 8th Communication Battalion, Force Troops, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic. The Battalion was assigned the primary mission of providing communication support to a Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Headquarters when deployed and to operate general communication support to Marine operations as required. Various elements participated in the Landings in Lebanon, the
Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
, and the Intervention in the Dominican Republic from 1958-1965. In June 1966, 8th Communication Battalion provided administrative and technical management of the Fleet Marine Force Atlantic Communication School. The Battalion continued to operate the communication school until 1 December 1967. In 1960, Battalion personnel were sent to form the communication section for Camp Garcia, Vieques, Puerto Rico and continued to provide personnel until 1976. 8th Communication Battalion was reassigned during January 1976 to Force Troops, 2nd Force Service Support Group, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic and participated in numerous training exercises throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Various elements provided support to the multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon from 1982-1984, provided support to the landing on Grenada-Carriacou from October–November 1983 and provided support to operations in the Persian Gulf in April 1988. 8th Communication Battalion was reassigned during February 1989 to 2nd Surveillance Reconnaissance and Intelligence Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic. Various elements participated in operations in Panama from December 1989-January 1990, operations in Liberia in June 1990, Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM, Southwest Asia from August 1990–April 1991, operations in Somalia in January 1991, operations in Bosnia from February–March 1996. Various Battalion elements participated in
Operation ENDURING FREEDOM Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 at ...
in Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and Cuba from 2002 – 2008. The Battalion also supported humanitarian relief efforts in Louisiana and Mississippi in response to
Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
from September–October 2005. 8th Communication Battalion deployed during January 2003 to Kuwait in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM and participated in
Operation IRAQI FREEDOM {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
, Iraq, March–June 2003; since then the Battalion and its Detachments have deployed successive occasions in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM including February 2005 to March 2006, January 2007 to February 2008 and during 2009. 8th Communication Battalion continued to support operations in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan through 2014, as well as its traditional mission of providing robust detachments for rotational deployments by the 22nd, 24th, and 26th Marine Expeditionary Units. Today, 8th Communication Battalion is composed of close to one thousand Marines and Sailors and employs over thirteen thousand end items valued at nearly $200 million. Its mission is to provide secure expeditionary communications to Marine Air Guard Task Force, Marine Component Headquarters, and other command elements to enable command and control.


Unit awards

Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC): Lieutenant Colonel Kevin M. Shea Award on 7 May 2010 for communications unit of the year 2009. 8th Communication Battalion's decorations include Navy Unit Commendation Streamer with three Bronze Stars; the Meritorious Unit Commendation Streamer; the National Defense Service Streamer with three Bronze Stars; the Southwest Asia Service Streamer with three Bronze Stars; the Afghanistan Campaign Streamer with one Bronze Star; the Iraq Campaign Streamer with three Bronze Stars; the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Streamer; and the Global War on Terrorism Service Streamer.


See also

*
List of United States Marine Corps battalions This is a list of current United States Marine Corps battalions, sorted by the mission they perform. __TOC__ Active units Ground Combat Element battalions The ground combat element (GCE) consists of those combat and combat support units whose ...
*
Organization of the United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps is organized within the Department of the Navy, which is led by the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV). The most senior Marine commissioned officer is the Commandant of the Marine Corps, responsible for organizing, recr ...


References


External links


8th Comm's official website
{{US Marine Corps navbox Comm8