The 8th Engineer Support Battalion (8th ESB) is an engineering support unit of the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

and is headquartered at

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune ( or ) is a United States Armed Forces, United States military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Its of beaches make the base a major area for Amphibious warfare, amphibious assault training, an ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. The unit falls under the command of the

2nd Marine Logistics Group The 2nd Marine Logistics Group (2nd MLG) is a Logistics#Military logistics, logistics unit of the United States Marine Corps and is headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. 2nd MLG was formerly known as 2nd Force Service S ...

and the

II Marine Expeditionary Force The II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force consisting of ground, air and logistics forces capable of projecting offensive combat power ashore while sustaining itself in combat without external assistance for a ...

Mission

To task organize forces in General Support to the MEF; providing mobility, counter-mobility, survivability, general engineering, and explosive ordnance disposal in order to ensure a maneuver and tempo advantage.

Current units

The 8th Engineer Support Battalion consists of the following Companies * Headquarters and Service Company * Engineer Support Company * Bravo Company * Charlie Company * 2nd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company *Bulk Fuel Company

History

1950–1989

Activated 11 December 1950 at Camp Geiger, North Carolina, as 8th Engineer Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic, Relocated to Camp LeJeune, North Carolina in 1958 Assigned during September 1962 to Force Troops, Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic Redesignated 1 January 1976 as 8th Engineer Support Battalion, Force Troops/ 2d Force Service Support Group, Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic Provided combat service support to Marine Amphibious Units in the United States, Caribbean, and Mediterranean Elements provided disaster relief support to Charleston, South Carolina, after

Hurricane Hugo Hurricane Hugo was a powerful tropical cyclone that inflicted widespread destruction across the northeastern Caribbean and the Southeastern United States in September 1989. The eleventh tropical cyclone, eighth Tropical cyclone naming, named st ...

, September–October 1989

1990–1999

Participated in

Operations Desert Shield , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

and

Desert Storm , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, Southwest Asia, December 1990 – April 1991 Elements participated in Haitian refugee operations, Cuba, November 1991 – October 1992 Elements provided disaster relief support to southern Florida after

Hurricane Andrew Hurricane Andrew was a compact, but very powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that struck the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana in August 1992. It was the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures dama ...

, September–October 1992 Elements provided bridging support to the State of Florida, Volusia County, during

wildfires A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

, July 1998. Elements provided disaster relief support to Puerto Rico after

Hurricane Georges Hurricane Georges () was a powerful and long-lived tropical cyclone which caused severe destruction as it traversed the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico in September 1998, making seven landfalls along its path. Georges was the seventh tropical storm ...

, September–November 1998 (CSSD-68) Elements provided disaster relief support to Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala after

Hurricane Mitch Hurricane Mitch was an extremely deadly and catastrophic Atlantic hurricane, which became the second-deadliest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin on record. Mitch caused 11,374 fatalities in Central America in 1998, including approximately ...

, November 1998 – April 1999 (CSSD-69)

2000–2010

Deployed during February 2003 to Kuwait in support of

Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used by the U.S. government for both the first stage (2001–2014) of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response ...

Participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq, March–May 2003 Elements participated in

Operation Secure Tomorrow Operation Secure Tomorrow is an operation that took place from February 2004 to July 2004 in Haiti. After a government collapse in Haiti and the resignation of President Jean Bertrand Aristide, the United States invaded Haiti to police the count ...

, Haiti, February–June 2004 Elements returned to Iraq in February 2004 for continued operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom 2–1. Elements participated in

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

, Iraq, January 2005 – March 2006 Participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq, March–October 2007 Participated in Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan, February 2008 Elements participated in Operation Unified Response, Haiti, January–March 2010 Participated in Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan, November 2010 – June 2011

References

;Notes : ;Web
8th ESB's Official Website
ESB8 {{USMC-stub