ESG staff heads to Bahrain for yearlong tour

[unhappycamper]

ESG staff heads to Bahrain for yearlong tour
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jan 14, 2008 17:39:07 EST

SAN DIEGO — A group of 35 sailors and Marines with Expeditionary Strike Group 3 is traveling to Bahrain this week for a yearlong deployment to the Persian Gulf region, Navy officials said.

Rear Adm. Mark Balmert, the strike group commander, is leading the group, Lt. Erik Reynolds, a strike group spokesman in San Diego, said Monday.

“We are a small command element that’s designed to be very mobile,” Reynolds said. “A part of the staff will remain behind because we still have some responsibilities here.”

The group will take over command of Task Force 51, which oversees amphibious expeditionary forces and assists in theater security missions, and Task Force 59, which provides for contingency and crisis response for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command based in Bahrain. “We’ll be at sea a lot.” Reynolds added.

Balmert and members of his staff will replace the Norfolk, Va.-based Expeditionary Strike Group 2 for the yearlong deployment, Reynolds said. The rotation is the third deployment of a strike group staff to Bahrain, also home to the U.S. 5th Fleet.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/navy_esgstaff_bahraindeployment_080114w/