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Seasoned Vet
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September 10, 2003
20,000 Marines on parade
California city to salute returning troops
By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The Marine Corps planners faced a challenge: Find a way to move 20,000 leathernecks along a short stretch of road filled with thousands of locals.
So an operational planning team sprang into action and whipped up a battle plan — one that will help Oceanside give a heroes’ welcome to the Marines and sailors of I Marine Expeditionary Force returning from combat duty in Iraq.
Last month, officials in this suburban military town on Camp Pendleton’s southern border agreed to spend $48,000 on the event. The parade, set for Oct. 25, is one of at least two semi-official parades planned in Southern California. The business chamber in Twentynine Palms also will sponsor a parade in conjunction with a popular desert festival Oct. 18 to honor 7th Marines.
The Oceanside parade will be a moving mass of camouflage-clad warriors along Highway 101 and will end with a beachside festival near the city pier. A festival is planned to feed Marines who spend the afternoon downtown.
“It’s going to be huge,” said Rocky Chavez, a retired colonel and Oceanside councilman. “It’s a great time for the city of Oceanside to recognize the Marines and the sailors.”
But staging a parade of that magnitude is no easy task, so city officials deferred to Marine Corps planners. The operational planning team brought some organization to the process, said Lt. Col. Bill Satmary, the MEF’s primary action officer for the parade. “The early planning was kind of nonstructured,” he said.
But the Marine Corps welcomed the opportunity to help the city show its appreciation to the troops. “The city’s really trying to make it a big deal for the Marines,” said Maj. T.V. Johnson, a MEF spokesman.
The 20,000 Marines and sailors might overwhelm parade route, which, at just under a mile long, barely will contain the anticipated military units, combat vehicles and high-school marching bands.
“The number of people in the parade may exceed all previous parades” in the city, said Satmary, a logistics officer and reservist.
Satmary figures 20,000 troops marching 10 abreast can cover the distance in two hours. But the plan is a work in progress, he said. “Right now, it’s a blank canvas.”
In the Mojave Desert, 100 miles away, two homecoming celebrations will honor the I MEF Marines, including 7th Marines and 1st Tank Battalion, who deployed for the war from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. Combat center officials will hold a daylong party on Victory Field Sept. 20 for the Marines, sailors and families, center officials said.
And on Oct. 18, the city of Twentynine Palms and the local chamber of commerce will hold a homecoming parade. The parade is part of the city’s annual “Pioneer Days” celebration, which planners say draws large crowds from throughout the region.
“We’re trying to get at least one platoon of Marines to march. It’s up to the 7th Marines,” said Jesse Allen, a retired master sergeant and community relations officer.
------------------------------------------------------------ Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. ------------------------------------------ 
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Seasoned Vet
 
Group: Registered User
Last Login: 10/2/2005 10:13 PM
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How would you like to do 'force protection for THAT?
Go with God, but make Him walk the point.
If you load a mudfoot down with a lot of gadgets he has to watch somebody a lot more simply equipped - say with a stone axe - will sneak up and bash his head in while he is trying to read a Vernier. - Robert Heinlein
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BS6's Dude
Group: Community Supporter
Last Login: 12/10/2008 4:45 PM
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Force Protection? $hit... Marines are all DEADLY WEAPONS, right?
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Seasoned Vet
Group: Registered User
Last Login: 10/2/2005 10:13 PM
Posts: 5,502,
Visits: 70
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car bombs can kill too.
Go with God, but make Him walk the point.
If you load a mudfoot down with a lot of gadgets he has to watch somebody a lot more simply equipped - say with a stone axe - will sneak up and bash his head in while he is trying to read a Vernier. - Robert Heinlein
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Hard Charger
Group: Past PNET Supporter
Last Login: 8/22/2005 9:55 PM
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OUT-FRIGGIN-STANDING!!!!!
The First thing I'll discuss are the five points of performance
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