16                           HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS IN NORTHERN IRAQ, 1991:

                         The Command Element

    The 24th MEU (SOC) consisted of the 24th MEU Headquarters, Battalion
Landing Team 2/8 (BLT 2/8), Composite Helicopter Squadron 264 (HMM-264),
and MEU Service Support Group 24 (MSSG-24). The commanding officer was
Colonel James L. Jones, Jr. Colonel Jones had strong Marine Corps roots, as the
son of a legendary World War II Marine Reservist who retired as a brigadier
general, and fl~ nephew of a retired Marine lieutenant general 20 He graduated
from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in 1967, served in Vietnam
as a rifle platoon leader and company commander, then commanded Company
H, 2d Battalion, 9th Marines on Okinawa when that unit was one of the
contingency forces for non-combatant evacuation operations in Southeast Asia.
This experience came in handy during Operation Provide Comfort. Later in his
career, Jones commanded the 3d Battalion, 9th Marines. His staff duties included
five years as a Senate liaison officer and a tour as senior aide to the Commandant
of the Marine Corps.21  His partially European upbringing and mastery of
foreign languages made him an appropriate choice as the commander of 24th
MEU (SOC) during Operation Provide Comfort.
    The command element included the executive officer, Lieutenant Colonel
Ralph C. Morse; the personnel officer, Captain Dewey G. "Guy' Jordan; the
intelligence officer, Major Richard J.  "Rick" Raftery; the operations officer,
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas C. "Tom" Lirm; the logistics officer, Major Michael
D. "Mike" Boyd; and Sergeant Major William E. Hatcher.
    The existing 24th MEU headquarters was reinforced by detachments from 2d
Air  and   Naval  Gunfire Liaison     Company    (2d ANGLICO),    2d  Force
Reconnaissance Company, 2d Radio Battalion, 8th Communications Battalion,
a force imagery interpretation unit (FIIU), and a sensor control and management
platoon (SCAMP). There were also counter-intelligence, interpreter-interrogator,
and  terrain analysis support teams.    In Iraq, an unmanned   aerial vehicle
detachment was attached to the 24th MEU (SOC) and additional ANGLICO
firepower control teams were attached to allied units.

                                BLT2/8

    Battalion Landing Team- 2/8 was the MEU's ground combat element (GCE).
It was composed of the 2d Battalion, 8th Marines, reinforced by antitank,
reconnaissance, artillery, combat engineer, assault amphibian, and light armored
infantry units. The battalion included a headquarters and service company, four
rifle companies, and a weapons company. These Organic components and their
attached units gave the landing team a lot of fire power: 8 M29E 1 81 mm mortars
(range 4,500 meters); 12 M224 60mm mortars (range 1,500 meters); 8 M270A1
tube-launched, optically tracked, wire command link, guided antitank missiles
(range 3,000 meters); 24 M-47 Dragon man-portable antiarmor weapons (range
1,000 meters);  31 SMAW shoulder-launched multi-purpose assault weapons
(range 250 meters); 10 40mm machine guns (range 500 meters);     4 M101A1