MarSOC Awards
During a ceremony held at Camp Lejeune in March, the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MarSOC) presented the following awards to Marines and sailors serving with MarSOC.
Silver Star Medals were presented to Sgt Mark A. Robinson and CPO Jeremy K. Torrisi for valorous actions during Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF).
Bronze Star Medals with combat “V” were presented to Maj John Moder, Capt Christian J. Pfeffer, SSgt Jody I. Wagner, and MSgt Richard A. Wells for valorous actions during OEF.
GySgt Robert L. Gilbert II was presented the Bronze Star Medal with combat “V” posthumously for valorous actions during OEF.
A Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with combat “V” was presented to PO1 Joseph A. Clairmont for valorous actions during OEF.
Col Victor J. Croizat, 50-Year Club Member, Passes
Col Victor J. Croizat, USMC(Ret), a member of the Marine Corps Gazette’s 50-Year Club, passed away on 8 May in Santa Monica, CA.
Col Croizat was born in 1919. Commissioned in the Marine Corps shortly after graduating from Syracuse University in 1940, he fought in the Pacific during World War II. Then-LtCol Croizat was designated the first advisor to the South Vietnamese Marine Corps and was one of the first U.S. advisors to be sent to Vietnam as the French were exiting the country in the mid-1950s. During the early 1960s, Col Croizat was assigned as the U.S. Military Attaché, Southeast Asia Treaty Organization Headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand.
Col Croizat retired from the Marine Corps in 1966 following his command of the 5th Marine Regiment, Camp Pendleton.
Following his retirement, Col Croizat was an analyst and writer for RAND Corporation and authored several books on military history. Col Croizat was inducted into the Gazette’s 50-year club in 1999.
CA MOS Course
The Security Cooperation Education and Training Center Civil-Military Operations (CMO) Branch is conducting the fourth iteration of the Civil Affairs (CA) MOS Course from 19 July to 13 August.
The CA MOS Course is part of the Marine Corps CA School that awards the MOS of 0530 (officer) and 0531 (enlisted) to Marines assigned to CA billets in either the 3d or 4th Civil Affairs Group (USMCR), in the Active Component CA detachments, or in CMO planners positions at the MEU, regiment, or MEF level.
Since its inception in October 2009, the CA School has awarded the CA MOS to 100 Marines. The school will run two more classes this fiscal year. The school also inaugurated the first CMO Planners Course in April. This course is designed to train non-CA Marines, as well as CA Marines, on how to integrate CMO into MAGTF planning.
Units interested in having Marines attend either course may enroll through the Marine Corps Training Information Management System or contact MSgt Ted Yntema at 703–784–1114 or theodore.yntema@usmc.mil.
New Amphib Launched
On 24 January the Navy commissioned the newest San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock (LPD), Green Bay, in Long Beach, CA.
Designated as LPD 20, the Green Bay is the fourth LPD in the San Antonio class. The ship will support the Marine Corps’ “mobility triad,” which consists of the LCAC, the expeditionary fighting vehicle, and the MV–22 Osprey. The ship will provide improved warfighting capabilities including an advanced command and control suite, increased lift capability in vehicle and cargo carrying capacity, and advanced ship survivability features.
Green Bay is 684 feet long, displaces about 24,900 tons, and is capable of embarking a landing force of approximately 800 Marines. For more information on this class ship, go to http://www.navy.
mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid-600&ct=4.
Writing Award Winner Announced
On 24 April the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation announced that LtCol L. Ross “Migs” Roberts had received the MajGen Roy S. Geiger Award for the best article about Marine aviation published in 2009. LtCol Roberts’ article, “Unmanned UF–35B Lightning II,” was published in the June 2009 issue of the Marine Corps Gazette.
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