How Navy and Marines Coordinated Initial Afghanistan Response to 9/11
As a pilot assigned to numerous Marine Helicopter Squadrons, Jennifer Grieves participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom and lead a number of other combat missions in Afghanistan and Africa. As a member of the Marine Corps’ 26th Marine Expeditionary Squadron, Jennifer Grieves was part of a combat mission that launched a complex amphibious raid in 2001 that required transporting 400 Marines from amphibious assault ships some 370 miles to Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11. Jennifer Grieves was awarded a combat action ribbon and numerous air medals for her actions during this mission.
Given Afghanistan’s landlocked position, the USS Peleliu was part of a strategy that relied heavily on the use of cruise missiles launched from ships and carrier-based strike aircraft. This required tight coordination between Air Force heavy bombers (responsible for delivering munitions) and fighter aircraft from Navy carriers that made up the majority of strike missions leading to the collapse of the Taliban regime in December 2001.
As Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) commenced, the USS Peleliu, an amphibious Marine assault ship built in 1980 and nicknamed “Iron Nickel,” made a journey of several weeks to Pakistan, with a humanitarian operation in East Timor also scheduled in. Marine expeditionary unit (MEU) crew members at the time were unable to contact family members and inform them of their highly classified mission.
When they arrived, MEU crew members and amphibious ready groups (ARG) participated in broad naval actions involving crisis response and amphibious raids, often requiring extremely short notice. The most important of these ARG-MEU operations centered on Task Force 58 and involved an amphibious raid that disrupted the command and control exerted by the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. These actions created a foundational basis for expeditions that saw the Navy and Marines working in tight coordination throughout Operation Enduring Freedom.
