# Marine expeditionary brigade

A Marine expeditionary brigade (MEB) is a formation of the United States Marine Corps, a Marine air-ground task force of approximately 14,500 Marines and sailors constructed around a reinforced infantry regiment, a composite Marine aircraft group, a combat logistics regiment and a MEB command group. The MEB, commanded by a general officer (usually a brigadier general), is task-organized to meet the requirements of a specific situation. It can function as part of a joint task force, as the lead echelon of the Marine expeditionary force (MEF), or alone. It varies in size and composition, and is larger than a Marine expeditionary unit (MEU) but smaller than a MEF. The MEB is capable of conducting missions across the full range of military operations.

## Notional Marine expeditionary brigade in 2010
### Command element (CE)

MEB command group
* MEB Staff
* Detachment, Communications Battalion
* Detachment, Intelligence Battalion
* Detachment, Law Enforcement Battalion
* Detachment, Radio Battalion
* Detachment, Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company
* Detachment, Force Reconnaissance Company

### Ground combat element (GCE)

Regimental Landing Team (RLT) or Regimental Combat Team (RCT)
* Infantry Regiment (w/ 3 Infantry Battalions), Reinforced
* 48 Amphibious Assault Vehicles, AAV-7A1 and variants (1 Amphibious Assault Vehicle Company (Reinforced))
* 27 Light Armored Vehicles, LAV-25A1 and variants (1 Light Armored Reconnaissance Company (Reinforced))
* 14 Main Battle Tank, M1A1, Abrams (1 Tank Company (Reinforced))
* 2 Armored Recovery Vehicle, M88A2, Hercules (1 Tank Company (Reinforced))
* 2 Assault Breacher Vehicle, M1, Shredder (Combat Engineer Company)
* 24 Howitzer, 155 mm, M777A2 (1 Artillery Battalion w/4 firing batteries of 6 guns each)
* 24 Mortar, 81mm, M252 (4 tubes per section, 2 sections per platoon, of the Mortar Platoon, Weapons Company, Infantry Battalion × 3)
* 27 Lightweight Mortar, 60 mm, M224 LWCMS (3 tubes in the Mortar Section of the Weapons Platoon, Rifle company × 3, Infantry Battalion × 3)
* 24 Anti-Tank Missile Launcher, BGM-71, TOW (8 launchers in the TOW Section of the Anti-Tank (AT) Platoon, Weapons Company, Infantry Battalion × 3)
* 24 Anti-Tank Missile Launcher, FGM-148, Javelin (8 launchers in the AT Section of the Anti-Tank Platoon, Weapons Company, Infantry Battalion × 3)
* 18 Automatic Grenade Launcher, 40 mm, Mk 19 (6 guns per Heavy Machine Gun Platoon, Weapons Company, Infantry Battalion × 3)
* 18 Browning Machine Gun, Cal. .50, M2, HB, Flexible (6 guns per Heavy Machine Gun Platoon, Weapons Company, Infantry Battalion × 3)
* 54 Machine Gun, 7.62mm, M240 (6 guns in the Machine Gun Section, Weapons Platoon, Rifle Company × 3, Infantry Battalion × 3)
* 243 Light Machine Gun/Infantry Automatic Rifle, 5.56mm, M249 (9 guns per Rifle Platoon × 3, Rifle Company × 3, Infantry Battalion × 3)

### Aviation combat element (ACE)

Composite Marine aircraft group
* Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) [notional organization shown below]
* 45 AV-8B (3 VMA squadrons w/ 15 aircraft each)
* 24 F/A-18 (2 VMFA squadrons w/ 12 aircraft each)
* 5 EA-6B (1 VMAQ squadron w/ 5 aircraft each)
* 6 KC-130 (1 VMGR detachment)
* 32 CH-53E (2 HMH squadrons w/ 16 aircraft each)
* 48 CH-46E or MV-22B (4 HMM or VMM squadrons w/ 12 aircraft each)
* 18 AH-1Z (1 HMLA squadron, each HMLA squadron contains both AH-1 & UH-1 aircraft)
* 9 UH-1Y (1 HMLA squadron, each HMLA squadron contains both AH-1 & UH-1 aircraft)
* 45 Stinger missile teams (1 Low Altitude Air Defense firing battery w/ 3 platoons of 15 Stinger missile teams each)
* 1 Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron (MALS) (Provides Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance, Aviation Supply, and Aviation Ordnance support to aircraft squadrons)
* 1 Marine Wing Support Squadron (MWSS) (Provides Combat Service Support [i.e., all essential aviation ground support and services] to enable the MAG to perform its aviation mission)
* Other aviation support squadron detachments as required (MACS, MASS, MTACS, MWCS)

### Logistics combat element (LCE)

Combat logistics regiment (CLR) (w/ 1 to 3 combat logistics Battalions) [notional equipment shown below]
* 1 medium girder bridge
* 6 cranes:
** 1 30-ton crane
** 5 7.5-ton cranes
* 2 600k-gal fuel systems
* 44 100-kW generators
* 75 7-ton trucks
* 9 Water purifying units
* 116 forklifts
* 5 bulldozers
* 3 road graders

## List of MEBs

* 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade
* 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade
* 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade
* 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade
* 7th Marine Expeditionary Brigade

## Historical MEBs

The following MEBs were deployed operationally:
* Task Force Tarawa for the Iraq War
* Task Force Leatherneck for the Afghanistan War
* 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade for the Vietnam War – deployed March 8, 1965
* 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (Anti-Terrorism) for the War on Terror - activated in 29 October 2001 and deactivated in February 2006