Ready Marine Corps

As Camp Lejeune continues recovery from Hurricane Florence, II Marine Expeditionary Force and base leadership will increase its engagement with service members to understand if assistance is needed on the home front to maintain personal and operational readiness.

Along with the installation commanders, leaders across II MEF will execute the Commandant of the Marine Corps' Marine Housing Outreach Program to offer voluntary home visits to improve their respective command's awareness and better advocate for Marines, Sailors, Civilian Marines and their families. As referenced in the CMC's White Letter 1-19, the goal of the visits is to help leaders identify maintenance and safety concerns and ensure service members know about programs and resources which have been established to address potential housing problems.

"Our Marines, Sailors and their families matter to us, and part of that is being available to assist with concerns regarding housing," said Lt. Gen. Robert F. Hedelund, the II MEF commanding general. "These voluntary home visits and phone calls are not meant to be intrusive, but to show that personal and family readiness is an important part of being America's force in readiness."

With hurricane season quickly approaching, II MEF leaders emphasized that they want to ensure their service members and families are prepared to handle conditions that may impact their readiness.

"The Carolina [Marine Air-Ground Task Force] was hit hard during Hurricane Florence and some Marines, Sailors and their families are still impacted by the damage the storm left in its wake," Lt. Gen. Hedelund added. "This is a specific concern affecting those stationed here and as we prepare for the upcoming hurricane season, we as leaders, need to be there for our Marines and ensure they are prepared."

The Marine Housing Outreach Program will apply to service members in government quarters, public private venture housing, as well as those living in rental or personally owned properties off of Marine Corps installations. The program is completely voluntary with service members allowed to decline the home visits offered by their respective commands. Service members may opt to receive a phone call from their command and inform them about their housing living conditions instead of participating in the in-person visits.

With the knowledge of the negative impacts from last year's hurricane, and the threat of hurricane season on the horizon II MEF disseminated guidance throughout the command to make sure the program is conducted efficiently and with minimal impact to service members and families.

"Bottom line, we want our troops and their families to have an avenue to bring up issues they may be having with their housing situation, and we want our leaders to be able to assist with that process where able,” Lt. Gen. Hedelund added.