Marine Air Support Squadron 5 (MASS-5) was a United States Marine Corps aviation command and control unit that provided the Direct Air Support Center (DASC) capability for the I Marine Expeditionary Force from 1966 through 1969. MASS-5 was headquartered at

Marine Corps Air Station El Toro Marine Corps Air Station El Toro was a United States Marine Corps Air Station located next to the community of El Toro, near Irvine, California. Before it was decommissioned in 1999, it was the home of Marine Corps Aviation on the West Coast ...

, California, and was part of

Marine Air Control Group 38 Marine Air Control Group 38 (MACG-38) is a United States Marine Corps aviation command and control unit based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar that is currently composed of four squadrons and one battalion that provide the 3rd Marine Aircraft ...

and the

3rd Marine Aircraft Wing The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (abbreviated as 3rd MAW) is the major west coast aviation unit of the United States Marine Corps. It is headquartered at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, in San Diego, California and provides the aviation combat el ...

Mission

The squadron was responsible for the planning, receiving, coordination and processing of requests for direct or

close air support In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and moveme ...

. It provided this through the DASC. The DASC is the principal Marine air command and control system agency, responsible for the direction of air operations directly supporting ground forces. It functions in a decentralized mode of operation, but is directly supervised by the Marine or Navy Tactical Air Command Center. During

amphibious Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fish ...

or expeditionary

operations Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

, the DASC is normally the first air command & control agency ashore and usually lands in the same serial (i.e., scheduled wave or on-call wave) as the Ground Combat Element's senior Fire Support Coordination Center.

History

MASS-5 - 19690606 - Simulated Air Control - MCAS EL Toro Flight Jacket

MASS-5 was commissioned on 15 August 1966 at MCAS El Toro with the majority of its original members coming from the ranks of

Marine Air Support Squadron 3 Marine Air Support Squadron 3 (MASS-3), is a United States Marine Corps aviation command and control unit that provides the Direct Air Support Center (DASC) for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. They are based out of the 32 Area on Marine Corp ...

(MASS-3).MASS-5 Activated Monday – 19 August 1966 – Marine Corps Air Station El Toro Flight Jacket
/ref> MASS-5 supported training operations for west coast United States Marine Corps exercises while MASS-3 was deployed to the Republic of Vietnam supporting combat operations. The first exercise that MASS-5 supported was "Exercise Snowdrift" in January 1967.MASS-5 Demonstrates Support in Snowdrift – 27 January 1967 – Marine Corps Air Station El Toro Flight Jacket
/ref> During the time they were active they supported numerous exercises at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, MCAS El Toro and the

Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range The Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range (CMAGR) is a bombing range operated by the US Marine Corps located in southern California. United States. Range description The range is a

. As regular forces return from Vietnam there was not a need for two Marine Air Support Squadrons on the west coast. MASS-5 was decommissioned on November 28, 1969, at a ceremony conducted at MCAS El Toro. Remaining Marines from the unit were used to form Sub-Unit 1 of Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron 38 (H&HS-38).MASS-5 Deactivation – 5 December 1969 – Marine Corps Air Station El Toro Flight Jacket
/ref>

Unit awards

A unit citation or commendation is an award bestowed upon an organization for the action cited. Members of the unit who participated in said actions are allowed to wear on their uniforms the awarded unit citation. MASS-5 was presented with the following awards:

References

:''This article incorporates text in the public domain from the United States Marine Corps.''

External links

{{US Marine Corps navbox United States Marine Corps air support squadrons United States Marine Corps aviation support squadrons

Mission

History

Unit awards

See also

References

External links