8th Engineer Support Battalion - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The 8th Engineer Support Battalion (8th ESB) is an engineering support unit of the United States Marine Corps

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

and is headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune is a United States military training facility in North Carolina. The base's of beaches make it a major area for amphibious assault training, and its location between two deep-water ports allows for fast deployments.The main base is supplemented by five satellite...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

. The unit falls under the command of the 2nd Marine Logistics Group

2nd Marine Logistics Group

The 2nd Marine Logistics Group is a logistics unit of the United States Marine Corps and is headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. 2nd MLG was formerly known as 2nd Force Service Support Group , reorganized with its sister FSSGs into Marine Logistics Groups in 2005...

and the II Marine Expeditionary Force.

Mission

Provide general engineering support of a deliberate nature to the II MEF, to include survivability, counter-mobility and mobility enhancements, and explosive ordnance disposal; and general supply support incident to handling, storage, and distribution of bulk Class I (water) and bulk Class III and III(A)..

Current units

Headquarters and Service Company
Engineering Support Company
A Company
B Company
C Company
Bulk Fuel Company
Bridge Company
2nd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company

History

1950-1989

Activated 11 December 1950 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, as 8th Engineer Battalion,
Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic

Assigned during September 1962 to Force Troops, Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic

Redesingated 1 January 1976 as 8th Engineer Support Battalion,
Force Troops/ 2d Force Service Support Group,
Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic

Provided combat service support to Marine Amphibious Units in the United States,
Caribbean, and Mediterranean

Elements provided disaster relief support to Charleston, South Carolina,
after Hurricane Hugo, September-October 1989

1990-1999

Participated in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Southwest Asia, December 1990-April 1991

Elements participated in Haitian refugee operations, Cuba,
November 1991-October 1992

Elements provided disaster relief support to southern Florida after Hurricane Andrew

Hurricane Andrew

Hurricane Andrew was the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Andrew was the first named storm and only major hurricane of the otherwise inactive 1992 Atlantic hurricane season...

,
September-October 1992

Elements provided disaster relief support to Puerto Rico after Hurricane George,
September-November 1998

Elements provided disaster relief support to Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala
after Hurricane Mitch

Hurricane Mitch

Hurricane Mitch was the most powerful hurricane and the most destructive of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season, with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph . The storm was the thirteenth tropical storm, ninth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the season. Along with Hurricane Georges, Mitch...

, November 1998-March 1999

2000-2010

Deployed during February 2003 to Kuwait in support of Operation Enduring Freedom
Participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq, March-May 2003

Elements participated in Operation Secure Tomorrow

Operation Secure Tomorrow

Operation Secure Tomorrow is an operation that took place from February-July 2004 in which a multi-national force led by 3rd Battalion 8th Marines was sent by US President George W. Bush to Haiti to protect US interests there...