5th Battalion 14th Marines 5th Battalion 14th Marines ( 5 / 14 ) is a reserve artillery battalion of the United States Marine Corps , comprising four firing batteries and a headquarters battery . The battalion is based in Seal Beach , California and its primary weapon system is the M777A2 howitzer with a maximum effective range of 40K . They fall under the command of the 14th Marine Regiment and the 4th Marine Division . Mission . 5th Battalion , 14th Marines is prepared , upon activation , to provide artillery fires " on time , on target " , in the execution of the artillery battalion ' s tactical mission to provide direct support to a maneuver element or general and reinforcing fires to a senior artillery organization . 5th Battalion , 14th Marines will augment and reinforce active Marine forces , as directed , in time of war , national emergency or contingency operations . History . World War II . 5th Battalion , 14th Marines was created on 1 March 1944 when the 4th Marine Division returned to Camp Maui , Territory of Hawaii , following its first action at the Battle of Kwajalein . The new unit was made up of a headquarters battery plus three firing batteries armed with four M2A1 105mm howitzers each . This was a short lived activation because the battalion was redesignated the 4th 105mm Howitzer Battalion , V Amphibious Corps ( VAC ) on 16 April , just six weeks later . This was purely an administrative move since the battalion was attached to the 14th Marine Regiment for upcoming " Operation Forager " , the invasion of the Marianas . Throughout Operation Forager , the battalion continued to be referred to as " 5 / 14 " in after action reports , and at least one official history uses that terminology as well . The battalion landed on Saipan on 15 June 1944 , and was almost wiped out by Japanese fire early the next morning . 10 of 12 of the battalion ' s howitzers were knocked out of action . Due to extraordinary efforts by service and ordnance personnel , all guns were back in action that afternoon . Although designated a general support element , 5 / 14 was often used for direct support during the drive north and often fired in support of the 2nd Marine Division and the Army ' s 27th Infantry Division as well . Once Saipan was secured , the battalion joined four other Marine 105mm battalions in Groupment A , XXIV Corps Artillery , a temporary task organization created to bombard nearby Tinian . The 105s could range the northern half of Tinian so were used for preliminary fires and then supported the landing by the 4th Marine Division . Once the White Beaches had been taken , the Marine 105s loaded into landing ships then sailed for Tinian Town located about halfway down the island . The 4th 105mm Howitzer Battalion came ashore on 27 July to support the 2nd and 4th Marine Division ' s final attacks . Upon returning to Maui , the battalion was rearmed and renamed the 4th 155mm Howitzer Battalion , VAC and fought using that designation at the Battle of Iwo Jima then returned to Maui to prepare for the invasion of Japan . The abrupt end of the war in the Pacific resulted in the deactivation of the 4th 155mm Howitzer Battalion in November 1945 . 1980s & 1990s . The 5 / 14 was reactivated as part of the new " Total Force " doctrine adopted following the Vietnam War . From then on , reserve units were to become mirror images of their active duty counter parts . As a result , the 14th Marines were reorganized to include three direct support battalions armed with 105mm and 155mm towed howitzers while two general support battalions were armed with self - propelled heavy cannon . The 3rd Field Artillery Group headquarters located in San Francisco was redesignated HQ , 5 / 14 on 1 September 1979 . The firing batteries were : Battery N , armed with M110 Sp 8 - inch howitzers , at El Paso ; Battery O , also armed with 8 - inch SP howitzers , at Oklahoma City ; and Battery N , armed with M107 SP 175mm Guns , at Denver . The other general support battalion ( 4 / 14 ) was armed with M109 155mm SP howitzers . In 1983 , Battery P was rearmed with 8 - inch howitzers after the 175mm guns were dropped . Two years later the 14th Marines was once again reorganized . This time the 1st and 5th Battalion headquarters batteries swapped designations , so the 5th Battalion was now located at Los Angeles rather than San Francisco ; the firing batteries remained as before . No units of the 5th battalion were activated for service in country during Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm . 5th Battalion , 14th Marines was originally located in downtown Los Angeles at Chavez Ravine . In 1994 the Northridge earthquake damaged the battalion ' s facility there and caused the unit to move to the Long Beach Naval Station . When the Naval Station was closed as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure Program the battalion headquarters moved into temporary facilities aboard the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach , California . The battalion occupied the current site on the Weapons Station , the Sergeant Foster Reserve Training Center , during October 2000 . Global War On terrorism . 5th Battalion , 14th Marines was deployed to Iraq as a provisional military police battalion from 2005 through 2006 . The battalion was augmented with Marines from various units throughout the Marine Corps and the United States to form 5th Provisional Military Police Battalion , 14th Marines . The units included an active duty MP company from Camp Pendleton , a TOW Platoon from 25th Marines , Marines from 4th Force Reconnaissance and Battery C , 1st Battalion , 14th Marines . During its first deployment after 11 September and its first combat - zone deployment since World War II , the battalion operated five detention facilities , guarded Camp Fallujah and the surrounding area , conducted convoy security and conducted law enforcement operations . Battery N was deployed to southern Afghanistan in the spring of 2009 attached to 3rd Battalion 11th Marines . They are part of the 17 , 000 troop increase announced by President Obama in mid - February 2010 . The battery was split into two supporting operations from FOB Pico and FOB Payne . November Battery ' s Liaison Section was detached from the Battery and reinforced 2nd BN 3rd Marines to the North in Helmand Province to include the areas of Now Zad , Golestan , and Deleram . For its part , Battery N was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation as a part of 2nd MEB during Operation Enduring Freedom .