Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ANGLICO (Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company) refers to several small units of the United States Marine Corps who specialize in coordinating artillery, naval gunfire and Close Air Support for the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, and allied foreign Armed Forces. ANGLICO serves as liaison unit by providing capabilities normally contained only within the Marine Corps. These small teams possess the knowledge to direct and control air support for U.S. militaries and foreign units which lack this capability. ANGLICO not only can control U.S. aircraft, but they travel and train internationally to qualify to control foreign jets as well.
While all the services try to develop this type of unit, currently only the Marine Corps and Air Force can provide the battlefield with JTAC/Facs. Occasionally, the Navy will send a member of their SEAL community to the Marine school.
Contents |
[edit] Motto
Mottos common to ANGLICO units are "Lightning from the Sky, Thunder from the Sea," and "Non Multa Sed Multum" (Not Many But Much). An unofficial motto of the ANGLICO's has been "Simply forgot us" a play on the Marine Corps motto of Semper Fidelis.
[edit] Mission Statement
The official mission statement of ANGLICO is "To provide commanders a liaison capability with foreign area expertise to plan, coordinate, employ, and conduct terminal control of fires in support of joint, allied, and coalition forces."
[edit] Company Structure
ANGLICO is broken down by Brigades. While these Brigades may not be much bigger than an infantry platoon, the importance of this lies within its seniority in relation to other units (meaning ANGLICO carries a substantial amount of seniority with itself). The two Brigades are commanded by the Division Cell. At this level, the unit's Commanding Officer, a LtCol, runs the company while being co-located with the Generals. (ANGLICO is one a few special units who report directly to the Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) Commanding General). Each Brigade will have 2 Supporting Arms Liaison Teams (SALTs); each having roughly 10 men. A SALT will function at a Battalion level. Here, the team members will run and control the Fire Support Coordination for the whole Area of Operations. Also, they will oversee the mission of the Firepower Control Teams (FCTs). The FCTs are where the units money maker. Its on these 4 to 5 man teams where the action happens. On every level, there is a JTAC who oversees the situation. But, mainly on the FCT level, are the Marines actively engaging the enemy with CAS missions. FCTs constantly patrol and are known to setup Observation Posts (OP) for anywhere between 6 hours and 3 weeks at a time.
Note: ANGLICO is never assigned its own physical AO. These teams are constantly on the move from one AO to another. ANGLICO's inherits its AO from whichever unit ANGLICO is supporting.
[edit] Battlefield Environment
Usually, a Firepower Control Team in Iraq consists of no more than 4 to 5 men. A 5th man is needed to man the gun turret during a vehicle mounted mission. The primary member is a Foward Air Controller (FAC) or a Joint Terminal Air Controller (JTAC). A radio operator and forward observer will compose 2 of the 3 remaining team members, with the last member often being a SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) gunner. Even though each team member has their own specialty, ANGLICO Marines are all cross-trained within their team. This high level of training and proficiency is what makes ANGLICO units so effective.
While ANLGLICO units can perform many different tasks, Close Air Support has been its primary mission in recent conflicts. There are a limited number of JTACs in Iraq, and arguably the most sought out, are from Marine Corp ANGLICO units. The Marine Corps JTAC School is one of the most academically challenging schools within the military, with unusually high standards. To pass this school, a JTAC candidate must successfully coordinate 14 missions with live aircraft, and pass three intense written examinations. In contrast, the U.S. Army only requires their candidates to obtain controls from a simulator. But at the same time the Army can not call in CAS missions from Fixed Winged Aircraft unless in an emergency.
ANGLICO teams have been working with all types of units in Iraq; from a typical Marine or Army infantry company to a SEAL or Iraqi Army unit. Their training at all levels allows them to easily be plugged into any environment. Most Iraqi units will have, on some level, an ANGLICO team assigned to them. Also, the British Commandos have a special relationship with ANGLICO. Each year, these two units train for several weeks with each other.
[edit] Training
ANGLICO units require Marines who are proficient in a wide variety of specialized military skills. In addition to their primary MOS training necessary to coordinate fire support, such as artillery fire support, field radio operations, direct air support operations, and naval gunfire spotting; all ANGLICO Marines receive airborne training and jump qualification at the Army's Airborne School at Fort Benning, making ANGLICO one of the few Marine Corps units in which all Marines are jump-qualified. ANGLICO Marines regularly receive further advanced training in other insertion methods, fieldcraft, SERE, and other specialized and demanding activities. This, combined with the fact that ANGLICO Marines routinely serve with and must cross-train with a wide variety of US and Allied units around the world such as the British 148 Commando Forward Observation Battery, Royal Artillery, including Recon and Special Operations units and foreign services, makes ANGLICO units among the toughest and most highly regarded in the Marine Corps.
ANGLICO units can deploy as an entire company of 150 to support the large-scale operations of an entire Marine Expeditionary Force, or, more commonly, deploy in 4 to 7 man teams to support the activities of non-Marine units.
When a Marine checks into ANGLICO, no matter what his rank is or how long he has been in the military, he will have to pass the ANGLICO Basic Course (ABC). ABC can range from 2 to 4 months depending on the ANGLICO Company. All 5 ANGLICO units have their own Standard Operating Procedures(SOP); therefor things may be done a little different in each unit.
[edit] History
The History of ANGLICO dates back to the formation of JASCO (Joint Assault Signals Company) units who fought in the Pacific theatre of World War II. At the time, the JASCO units were used to coordinate air, artillery and naval gunfire support between the Marines, Army and US Navy during the Pacific "island hopping" campaign. The most famous JASCO Unit is the 594th, for its actions on Okinawa (1945) and the Philippines (1944-1945). Following the reorganization of the US Armed Forces under the Department of Defense in 1947, the JASCO units were disbanded and their responsibility transferred to the US Navy. In 1949, the Marine Corps began the process of recreating the JASCO capability under the new ANGLICO designation. ANGLICO, 2nd Signals Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, was formed in December, 1949 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The 1st Marine Division formed a similar unit at the same time, designated ANGLICO, 1st Signal Battalion, 1st Marine Division. A third unit, 1st ANGLICO, FMF Pac, was activated on 2 March 1951 at Pearl Harbor.
The original ANGLICOs, created in both 1st Marine Division and 2nd Marine Division in December, 1949, continued to exist and serve in combat throughout 1950 and 1951 in the Korean War. These were the first ANGLICO units to stand up, and to serve in combat. Teams from these units served in combat attached to USMC battalions, Korean Marine battalions, and US Army units. These ANGLICOs were entirely separate from the numbered ANGLICOs which first stood up in Hawaii in 1951, and predate those units by over a year.
During the mid-to-late 1980s, under Lieutenant Colonel J.M. Wills and Lieutenant General A.M. Gray (later Commandant of the Marine Corps) 2nd ANGLICO went through a period of refocusing on core skills including regular live Naval Gunfire training with the USS Iowa battleship, and more frequent mass tactical exercises with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. Additionally, the 2d ANGLICO began to train in Low Intensity Confilict response with weapon systems such as the Air Force SPECTRE gunship, Special Patrol Insertion/Extraction and Fast Rope insertion methods.
In 1999, all active-duty ANGLICO units (1st and 2d ANGLICO) were deactivated, their responsibilities transferred to less-effective Marine Liaison Elements. The two reserve units, 3d and 4th ANGLICO, were the only ANGLICO units that remained. In 2003, amidst the US war in Iraq and global war on terror and a high operational tempo being demanded of the reserve ANGLICO units, 1st and 2nd ANGLICO were reactivated. Shortly thereafter, in 2004, 5th ANGLICO was formed.
[edit] Current Units
Five ANGLICO companies currently exist in the U.S. Marine Corps:
(Note: These websites are maintained by their respective units. As a result of overseas deployments, some sites have not been updated in recent months.)
- 1st ANGLICO - Camp Pendleton, CA
- 2nd ANGLICO - Camp Lejeune, NC
- 3rd ANGLICO - Long Beach, CA
- 4th ANGLICO - West Palm Beach, FL
- 5th ANGLICO - Okinawa, Japan
- ANGLICO Association
[edit] See also
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
