Sep 26 - Sep 28, 2024:
Marine Corps Engineer Association (MCEA)More Details
Patch
Unit Details
Strength
Battalion
Type
Engineer
Year
1942 - Present
Description
3rd Combat Engineer Battalion (3rd CEB) was a combat engineer battalion of the United States Marine Corps
"Demolition is the Mission"
The battalion was first formed on 16 September 1942 as 1st Battalion, 19th Marine Regiment.
Two years later on 16 August 1944 they were re-designated the 3d Engineer Battalion.
The battalion was deactivated at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California on 30 November 1945.
From August 1957 until January 1962, the battalion was designated 3d Pioneer Battalion.
On 15 May 1976 the battalion was redesignated as the 3d Combat Engineer Battalion
Years Active:
September 1942 - 6 June 1995
1 October 2007 - 5 August 2014
Description
Operation Moshtarak (Dari for Together or Joint), also known as the Battle of Marjah, was an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) pacification offensive in the town of Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan. It involved a combined total of 15,000 Afghan, American, British, Canadian, Danish, and Estonian troops, constituting the largest joint operation of the War in Afghanistan up to that point. The purpose of the operation was to remove the Taliban from Marja, thus eliminating the last Taliban stronghold in central Helmand Province.[9] The main target of the offensive was the town of Marjah, which had been controlled for years by the Taliban as well as drug traffickers.
Although Moshtarak was described as the largest operation in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, it was originally supposed to be the prelude to a much larger offensive in Kandahar that would follow Moshtarak by several months. ISAF chose to heavily publicize the operation before it was launched, comparing its scope and size to the 2004 Second Battle of Fallujah, in the hopes that Taliban fighters in the town would flee.
The operation was also designed to showcase improvements in both the Afghan government and Afghan security forces. ISAF claimed that the operation was "Afghan-led" and would use five Afghan brigades. General Stanley A. McChrystal, the commander of ISAF, also promised that following the offensive ISAF would install a "government in a box" in Marja.
While initially successful, ISAF and the Afghans failed to set up a working government in the town, leading to a successful resurgence by the Taliban; 90 days into the offensive General McChrystal famously referred to it as a "bleeding ulcer". In October the town was still described as "troubling", but by early December the fighting there was declared "essentially over".
BattleType
Operation
Country
Afghanistan
Parent
OEF-Afghanistan/Consolidation III (2009 - 2011)
