Pages

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

The Other MEB

DID has a nice summary of where new Army units are going over the next three years.

And it describes the Maneuver Enhancement Brigades:

Note that a “Maneuver Enhancement Brigade” (MEB) is a tailored, combined arms force that includes a headquarters element, communications and logistics elements for the brigade, plus a mix of modular specialists designed to apply the right force for the mission. Typically, but not exclusively, the MEB is composed of engineer, military police, chemical, air defense, civil affairs, and other units that routinely function together during protection, stability, and support operations. Other types of units may also be assigned as necessary. For example, at Fort Lewis, the 555th includes a chemical decontamination battalion, a corps wheeled combat engineer battalion, and a combat heavy engineer battalion, as well as potentially some other units, to include an air defense artillery battalion. Read “A horse of a different color: the maneuver enhancement brigade” for more.


Ah. I thought they were essentially just engineer units, but they are more than that. I do wish they had a different name since it steps on the toes of the Marine Expeditionary Brigade acronym. And given the types of missions they appear to perform depending on what units are assigned to an MEB, the name doesn't even really make much sense.