Out-processing, US Marines....

[tabaqui]

I may have to change the subject line. However. What I'm trying to discover is - if you are current US Marine/Reservist, and are being discharged, where in Iraq would your out-processing begin? I'm trying to figure out where Marines leave the country from. Al Asad Airfield? An airfield in Kuwait

Comments

[oceanica]

What searches have you already tried?

[tabaqui]

Basically, out processing and out-processing, Marine, base, Iraq.

The problem is, out processing is what the Army calls it, i'm not 100 percent sure if that's the same term the Marines use, and if it *is*, it's not the term that would get you a base name. I'm not sure *what* word would, as things like 'depart' get you stories about Marines in general coming home *like, 'Marines want to leave Iraq' type stories* or stories about a specific Marine coming home to his/her home town and there is a lot of detail about the person, almost none about the military 'stuff'. So i need a better word, or phrase, but what exactly i'm not sure.

[a1cmustangpilot]

Does this Marine have a unit? Generally you can find out where they come and go through the units that they are attached to. And like the above question, what words have you searched?
~

[tabaqui]

See my comment above.

I haven't decided on a unit yet - still researching who's over there and where. I have a lot of different unit's home pages bookmarked, but i hadn't seen anything like that yet. I'm just starting the research process.

[hyacinths_arte]

You're having trouble finding this out because it's classified information. No-where does the Army post where their soldiers will depart from. If that information were available on the internet our soldiers would be in horrible danger.

Speaking as someone just passing through this community, but who has a brother returning from Kuwait as we speak, we--the family--weren't even allowed to know where they departed from, when they were leaving, when or where they were arriving in the U.S. All we know is that we get to see him six days after he comes home: they'll give us more information once they touch American soil.

You probably never will find that information, but good luck searching!

[tabaqui]

Interesting.
Thanks.

[mordant]

Generally all US marine units are housed at certain bases. If they deployed from one base they will likely return to that base. What kind of discharge? If you've completed your service obligation, you basically walk out of the base, but actually "out processing" as you call it doesn't happen within a foreign country, due to the international laws surrounding overseas service, the lack of a passport etc. Basically you don't finish up your military service in an overseas country, you wrap it up on your home turf.

atlasimpure may be able to give you some more background if you ask him nicely, he's a former Marine who's very candid about the stuff he's (legally) allowed to discuss.

[tabaqui]

Yeah, see, 'out processing' is the only term i can think of, but i know that's what happens in the States, with the soldier filling out forms and whatnot.

I think that, if the comment above is accurate, than i'm probably going to fake the base they actually leave from, though i'd rather not.

I'm mostly wondering if they go east or west to get home, and if everyone is flown to, say, Camp Pendleton in California first? And then sent to their last base of record, or is everybody sent to Camp Lejeune first, etc....

Thanks for the name, i appreciate it.

[mordant]

What you're asking re their point of depatrure/return from soverign soil is what's called a "staging" or "phase" question, and goes beyond my current knowledge, as far as I know, it's subject to change.

My involvement with the US military has only been indirectly via the DoD here in Australia, so yeah, ask atlasimpure - I wouldn't want to give you incorrect information.

Also bear in mind that if a large number of troops for once service are being deployed at once, it wouldn't rule out using several bases at once for efficiency sake, and not just marine bases. Air Force bases often have a high capacity for transit to and from USMC facilities to ships, etc.

Disclaimer - this is all second hand and based on the declassified stuff that used to pass over my desk. I have not served overseas. Results not typical. See your doctor if symptoms persist. This was a paid presentation.

[tabaqui]

*snickers*
Goober.

I wasn't really thinking about Air Force bases, though i don't know why....

Thanks!

[atlasimpure]

Per current policy, you have to be stateside for 90 days prior to separation. So, you would return to the base in the states that you were activated to and then separate from there.

[tabaqui]

Excellent. Thank you.

However....is the standard trip home east or west, as in - when you leave Iraq/Kuwait, do you fly into Korea or Japan and then to, say, California and 'home base' or do you fly to Germany/England/Greenland and then, say North Carolina and then 'home'?

I'm thinking i'm not going to be hyper-detailed, naming a string of bases or anything, but i *would* like a general idea and the basic 'shape' of the trip home in my mind. Is there a particular base Stateside that *everyone* goes to first, or does it mostly depend on where you're going to out-process?

[atlasimpure]

K, a lot of things depend on your character's job and the like but the one primary question is whether they are on a direct deployment or there as part of a MEU. If a MEU, then they have a 5-6 week journey by boat back to their point of origin

[tabaqui]

I was wondering about plane/boat thing,too - i wasn't sure how it broke down into who got to fly and who got to float, heh.

And MEU is....?

I very much appreciate your answers and info and i would love to pick your brains over some things. Just getting started on this whole deal, though, so i'll probably wait a little bit until i know more precisely what my character is doing and where....

So no inundation in your inbox! At least...not yet.

dum dum duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum!!

Thanks!