History
What is known today as 8th
Communication Battalion was activated 15 January 1951 at Camp Geiger, North
Carolina, as the 2d Signal Operations Company, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic. The unit was reassigned and relocated to its
current location at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina on 1 April 1951 to Force
Troops, Fleet Marine Force and re-designated 24 November 1952 as 8th Signal
Battalion, Force Troops, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic. The unit was again re-designated 2 August 1954
as 8th Communication Battalion, Force Troops, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic. The Battalion was assigned the primary mission
of providing communication support to a Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Headquarters
when deployed and to operate general communication support to Marine operations
as required.
Various elements participated in
the Landings in Lebanon, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Intervention in the
Dominican Republic from 1958-1965. In
June 1966, 8th Communication Battalion provided administrative and technical
management of the Fleet Marine Force Atlantic Communication School. The Battalion continued to operate the
communication school until 1 December 1967.
In 1960, Battalion personnel were sent to form the communication section
for Camp Garcia, Vieques, Puerto Rico and continued to provide personnel until
1976.
8th Communication Battalion was
reassigned during January 1976 to Force Troops, 2nd Force Service Support
Group, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic and participated in numerous training
exercises throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Various elements provided support to the
multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon from 1982-1984, provided support to
the landing on Grenada-Carriacou from October–November 1983 and provided
support to operations in the Persian Gulf in April 1988.
8th Communication Battalion was
reassigned during February 1989 to 2nd Surveillance Reconnaissance and
Intelligence Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic.
Various elements participated in
operations in Panama from December 1989-January 1990, operations in Liberia in
June 1990, Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM, Southwest Asia from
August 1990–April 1991, operations in Somalia in January 1991, operations in
Bosnia from February–March 1996.
Various Battalion elements
participated in Operation ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa
and Cuba from 2002 – 2008. The Battalion
also supported humanitarian relief efforts in Louisiana and Mississippi in
response to Hurricane Katrina from September–October 2005. 8th Communication
Battalion deployed during January 2003 to Kuwait in support of Operation
ENDURING FREEDOM and participated in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, Iraq, March–June
2003; since then the Battalion and its Detachments have deployed successive
occasions in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM including February 2005 to
March 2006, January 2007 to February 2008 and during 2009. 8th Communication Battalion continued to
support operations in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan
through 2014, as well as its traditional mission of providing robust
detachments for rotational deployments by the 22nd, 24th, and 26th Marine
Expeditionary Units.
Today, 8th Communication Battalion
is comprised of close to one thousand Marines and Sailors and employs over
thirteen thousand end items valued at nearly $200 million in order to
accomplish its mission, in providing secure expeditionary communications to
Marine Air Guard Task Force, Marine Component Headquarters, and other command
elements to enable command and control.
8th Communication Battalion’s
decorations include Navy Unit Commendation Streamer with three Bronze Stars;
the Meritorious Unit Commendation Streamer; the National Defense Service
Streamer with three Bronze Stars; the Southwest Asia Service Streamer with
three Bronze Stars; the Afghanistan Campaign Streamer with one Bronze Star; the
Iraq Campaign Streamer with three Bronze Stars; the Global War on Terrorism
Expeditionary Streamer; and the Global War on Terrorism Service Streamer.