Marines begin arriving in Kosovo
to take part in joint exercises
By David Josar, Kosovo
bureau
PRISTINA, Kosovo — Roughly half of the 700 Marines and sailors expected to
participate in joint exercises with Kosovo peacekeepers over the next several weeks have
arrived.
The remaining forces should arrive at the Pristina airport by Monday, said Marine
spokesman 1st Lt. Dan McSweeney.
They began arriving Wednesday.
Some of the troops are staying in tents on Camp Bondsteel. The rest will bunk at a base
camp the Marines are erecting elsewhere in Multinational Brigade East, the American sector
in Kosovo, which will be used as the center for smaller staging areas, McSweeney said.
The operation, dubbed Rapid Cheetah, is one of several the 24th Marine Expeditionary
Unit, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., has participated in since it departed in April on a
six-month deployment to the region.
They have held five prior training missions: in Morocco, the Republic of Georgia,
Albania, Italy and Greece.
The forces are based on three ships that are part of the USS Kearsarge amphibious
readiness group, based in the Mediterranean.
The troops repeatedly have deployed from those ships to participate in the operations,
McSweeney said.
"It can be very busy," he said.
In Kosovo, the Marines and sailors will participate in routine patrols through towns
and along the border.
They also will do other tasks, such as run medical and dental clinics for area
residents.
"Our Marines and sailors are looking forward to conducting a successful deployment
to Kosovo," said Col. Richard Mills, commanding officer of the 24th MEU.
"We’ve trained together as a team and have had several months of exercises
here in the Mediterranean," he said. "This will round out our experiences as a
force in readiness."
McSweeney said Rapid Cheetah will test the MEU’s ability to rapidly deploy forces
from ship to shore and see how the group works in a multinational environment.
The Kosovo operation is not connected to recent developments in Kosovo.
It was planned several months ago, McSweeney said.
The Marines will ship out Sept. 24.
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