Media Advisory: 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit change of command

CAMP PENDLETON, CA, UNITED STATES

07.07.2014

Courtesy Story

15th Marine Expeditionary Unit

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Lt. Col. John R. O’Neal will relinquish command of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit to Col. Vance L. Cryer during a change of command ceremony aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif., at 2 p.m. July 10.

Lieutenant Col. O’Neal, from Southfield, Mich., assumed command in June 2013, after serving as the MEU’s executive officer. His follow-on assignment will be at the Strategic Initiatives Group, Headquarters, Marine Corps. Colonel Cryer, an AV-8B Harrier pilot from Fort Worth, Texas, most recently served as the Aviation Weapons Programs deputy branch head at Headquarters, Marine Corps.

The change of command ceremony is a tradition symbolizing the transfer of responsibility, authority, and accountability from one officer to another, and usually conducted before the assembled company of the command.

The 15th MEU provides a forward deployed, flexible sea-based Marine air-ground task force capable of conducting amphibious operations, crisis response and limited contingency operations, to include enabling the introduction of follow-on forces, and designed special operations, in order to support the theater requirements of geographic combatant commanders. The 15th MEU most recently deployed aboard the ships of Amphibious Squadron Three from September 2012 to May 2013.

-USMC-

Media who wish to attend the 15th MEU Change of Command at 2 p.m. July 10, must RSVP with the 15th MEU Public Affairs Office: [phone] or [e-mail] no later than 4 p.m. July 9.

• Date Taken: 07.07.2014
• Date Posted: 07.07.2014 21:34
• Story ID: 135469
• Location: CAMP PENDLETON, CA, US
• Hometown: FORT WORTH, TX, US
• Hometown: SOUTHFIELD, MI, US