{"id":288006,"date":"2018-11-05T06:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-11-04T20:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=288006"},"modified":"2018-11-05T06:00:14","modified_gmt":"2018-11-04T20:00:14","slug":"31st-meu-takes-lead-on-tinian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/31st-meu-takes-lead-on-tinian\/","title":{"rendered":"31st MEU takes lead on Tinian  \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>TINIAN<\/strong>\u2014More than 150 U.S. service members arrived on the typhoon ravaged island of Tinian on Oct. 29-31 in the wake of Super Typhoon Yutu, led by the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit Commander and Combat Logistics Battalion 31.<\/p>\n<p>Taking shelter at the international airport, Marines with the 31st MEU arrived to lead Defense Support of Civil Authorities efforts to aid local leadership and the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. Before stepping off, the units\u2019 leaders met with local officials and FEMA representatives to gauge storm damage and response approaches.<\/p>\n<p>The 31st MEU trains year-round to respond to crises across the vast Indo-Pacific region, including the CNMI, to which Tinian belongs.<\/p>\n<p>A company of U.S. Navy Seabees, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 1, also arrived to aid in relief efforts. NMCB-1 is stationed in Gulf Port, Mississippi and is currently deployed to Guam; and the Guam-based 36th Civil Engineer Squadron, U.S. Air Force.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 31st MEU is honored to help the great Americans of Tinian. We are teamed up with local officials and supporting FEMA to prevent a wider humanitarian disaster,\u201d said Col. Robert \u201cBams\u201d Brodie, 31st MEU commander. \u201cThe 31st MEU is the premiere crisis response force in the Indo-Pacific and our Combat Logistics Battalion, led by Lt. Col. Chris Johnson, is the unit of choice for DSCA operations. I am exceptionally proud of his leadership and amazed by the tremendous performance of his Marines and sailors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Super Typhoon Yutu made a direct hit on the tiny U.S. territory last Oct. 25. The storm packed sustained winds in excess of 170 miles per hour, leaving the approximately 2,000 residents of the island without power and running water, and leaving many roads and public facilities waterlogged and surrounded by downed trees. It is the strongest storm to ever hit a U.S. territory and the strongest storm to his U.S. soil in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis storm is historic\u2014it had devastating effects on this island\u2014but the people of Tinian are resilient and we\u2019re glad to lend a hand to help them get back on their feet,\u201d said Brodie.<\/p>\n<p>The Marines from the 31st MEU and CLB-31, along with the Seabees of NMCB-1, U.S. Coastguardsmen with U.S. Coast Guard cutter Washington and the soldiers with the Army Corps of Engineers, are partnering with both local agencies and FEMA to conduct an assessment of critical shortfalls of material and supplies to determine the best way to support the people and local authorities on Tinian. (Gunnery Sgt. T. T. Parish, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TINIAN\u2014More than 150 U.S. service members arrived on the typhoon ravaged island of Tinian on&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6475,493,6359,6158],"class_list":["post-288006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-combat-logistics-battalion","tag-fema","tag-meu","tag-tinian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}