On a Saturday this October, about It was Saturday night and 100 senior Marine officers and senior enlisted leaders in II Marine Expeditionary Force geared up for were gearing up for the mission, on orders donned civilian clothes and headed out to execute an unusual missionfrom the commanding general: a night of bar-hopping.
Billed as a senior leaders' night out, the October event was more of a reconnaissance mission than an assault. Around 9p.m., the officers donned civilian clothes and hit the streets. Mainly . It took the officers, mainly stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, they ventured as far as 70 miles away to hit from the base to popular nighttime spots in Jacksonville, Wilmington, Greenville, Surf City, and other nearby towns. nearby. They stayed out until around 2 a.m., talking with establishment owners and local law enforcement and observing Marines enjoying liberty. as they enjoyed their weekend
Then they returned home for an eventual set of debriefs on what they'd seen.
II MEF Commander Maj. Gen. William Beydler had previously overseen similar night ops out when he commanded 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in Okinawa, Japan, where Marines' liberty was tightly policed and maintaining a positive relationship with local civilians was paramount.
Having freshly arrived at II MEF in July, Beydler said he felt it was a good time to become acquainted with his new stateside areas of operations.
"I think it's vitally important that the leadership of the Marine Corps understand the environment in which our Marines live and enjoy liberty and enjoy time with their family and so forth," he said. "I've never been stationed here before. I thought it would be important to me to understand the local liberty environment."
Beydler's evening in Jacksonville, where he visited local restaurants as well as bars, was pleasantly uneventful; he had conversations with Marines who recognized him and a few who didn't, and saw nothing that worried him, he said.
But 2nd Supply Battalion commander Lt. Col. Bruce Morales had a different experience. Morales visited a popular nightlife district of downtown Wilmington, about an hour from Camp Lejeune, visiting spots including Hooters and Ibiza, a dance club.
Outside one of the bars, he watched as a Marine got into a fight with another local, was subsequently tackled by another Marine, and was eventually handcuffed and taken away by police.
Morales said he spoke with police and with the Marine who stepped in to end the fight, but didn't intervene with the arrest. It was instructive, he said, to see the factors that contributed to such incidents, like this one, such as including excessive alcohol consumption, poor planning ahead of time and decisions to and falling in with strangers. spending free time with people not off base with people not well knowthey don't know and trust.
"Marines should have a mindset to deploy to go party out in town," he said. "A plan to deploy and a plan to retrograde."
The event also made senior leaders aware of their blind spots, said 8th Engineer Support Battalion Sgt. Maj. Russell Strack, who visited bars in Surf City with Lt. Col. David Hudak, the battalion's commanding officer.
"It was not for the benefit of the lance corporal in a way; I think it was for the benefit of us," Strack said. "To get off our butts and go out there and see our environment and our Marines. Because we've gotten complacent ourselves, and I'll be the first to admit that."
It wasn't all bad news. Strack, who said he rarely ventures out unless it's to pick up a Marine who has gotten in trouble, said he was surprised at how well the night went. Establishment proprietors were friendly, he said, and civilians seemed supportive of Marines in the community.
"When I first went out, I was expecting to see mayhem and carnage," he said. "I saw nothing even close to that."
He said he was surprised at how far Marines went on the weekends to get away from Jacksonville, which raised concerns about whether they were driving home drunk to avoid a pricey cab ride.
In debriefs held at 2nd Marine Logistics Group at the end of the evening, officers exchanged notes about trouble areas where they'd observed drug activity or unsafe environments and offered ideas to help Marines avoid getting into trouble. problems or discipline issues.
Beydler said he plans to organize another senior leaders night, in the future, though he doesn't yet have a date in mind. yet. The Participants in the first outing event who spoke with Marine Corps Times said they're looking forward to the next one.
"This allows us as senior leaders to understand what the threats are in these communities," Morales said. "...I think sometimes we assume that someone else is doing it. I wouldn't know if you could call it our duty, but it the right thing to do."
