1st Battalion, 24th Marines

1st Battalion, 24th Marines (1/24) is a reserve infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps located throughout Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana consisting of approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors. Nicknamed Terror from the North, the battalion is attached to the 25th Marine Regiment of the 4th Marine Division.

Provide trained combat and combat support personnel and units to augment and reinforce the active component in time of war, national emergency, and at other times as national security requires; and have the capability to reconstitute the Division, if required.

On July 5, 1922, the Marines first came to Detroit when a volunteer Marine Corps Reserve company was activated with a strength of 70 men. In 1926 the company designated as the 306th Company of the Fleet Marine Force (FMF) Reserve before being redesignated in 1929 as Company "B" of the 8th Reserve Battalion, headquartered in Toledo, Ohio. In October 1938, Detroit became the home of a second company of Marines, Company "D" of the 8th Reserve Battalion. Shortly thereafter, in November 1940, the 8th Reserve Battalion was mobilized as an individual active duty battalion before being integrated into the First Marine Brigade in January 1941. As part of the First Marine Brigade, the battalion fought valiantly in World War II in the South Pacific. During the Battle of Iwo Jima in February 1945, 1st Battalion suffered heavy casualties, but Lieutenant colonel Austin R. Brunelli quickly reorganized the unit and led it to the victory. In August 1946, the battalion was formed into the 17th Infantry Battalion. Four years later, the reservists of the 1st Battalion were mobilized and reported to Camp Pendleton, California, where many joined the units of the 1st Marine Division in Korea in the fall and winter of 1950. In July 1962, the Marines became Headquarters & Service Company of the 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment when the 4th Marine Division was reactivated. 1/24 was mobilized for nine months in support of Operation Desert Shield in December 1990 for the first time since 1954. The unit was sent to Okinawa and the Philippines where they were the first USMC battalion qualified as “Special Operations Ready” and then assisted in rescue operations associated with the eruption of Mount Pinatubo.

In support of Operation Enduring Freedom during 2003, 1/24 saw the mobilization of companies A, B, and C reinforced with platoons from Weapons company and small elements of H&S company. Company A along with Heavy Machinegun Platoon went to Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Horn of Africa. Company B, reinforced by 81mm Mortar Platoon went to support security operations in Kuwait. Company C and the Battalion's Javelin Platoon supported security operations in Southern Iraq. Until 2005, the battalion was based at Brodhead Armory which is an historic building that has served in various capacities over the years. It has served as a submarine base for the United States Navy, a union hall for the Teamsters in the Jimmy Hoffa era, and a professional boxing arena for Joe Louis and other famous boxers. The battalion headquarters and its subordinate Headquarters and Service Company relocated to Selfridge Air National Guard (SANGB) Base in 2005. SANGB is a joint base which accommodates all branches of the armed forces and is located roughly 35 mile (56 km) north of Detroit. In April 2006, the battalion began training in Michigan and Camp Pendleton, California, to prepare for deployment to Iraq's Al Anbar Governorate. The battalion arrived at Camp Baharia in September 2006. Alpha Company operated to the west of the Euphrates River, Bravo Company operated north of Fallujah out of the train station, Charlie Company was the only company to live and operate constantly inside the city limits of Fallujah. Weapons Company and the Headquarters and Support Company operated out of Camp Bahria (also known as "Dreamland"). The battalion would serve for the next seven months with Regimental Combat Team 5 and Regimental Combat Team 6. They replaced 1/25's Area of Operations. During this deployment 1/24 participated in Combat Operations in Fallujah, suffering 22 Marines killed in action with another 331 wounded, including 41 amputees.

1st Battalion, 25th Marines turned over its positions in and around Fallujah to another Reserve battalion, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines. Building on the improvements that 1/25 had made to Fallujah's infrastructure and community relations after Operation al Fajr, 1/24 also borrowed the concept of "community policing" from the successful Iraq tour that its sister battalion, 2/24, had employed in the Triangle of Death years earlier. Using aggressive patrolling and intelligence operations that transformed information regarding tribal activities and relationships into "actionable intelligence," 1/24 made major contributions to what has become known as the "Sunni Awakening," or the 180 degree transition of many Sunni tribes in Al Anbar Governorate from supporting the insurgents to supporting the American led effort in Iraq. Lt. Col. Harold R. "Odie" Van Opdorp, 2/24's battalion commander, credited much of the battalion’s success to its S 2 section, and how it had closely integrated intelligence on improvised explosive devices and other enemy activities with current operations. For 1/24’s deployment to Fallujah, it recruited two key intelligence officers from 2/24. Capitalizing on their experience and the systems that they had developed in the Babil Province, 1/24 was able to capture and understanding of its area of operations that allowed the Marines to operate in a coordinated and intelligence driven fashion.

Alpha Co. 1/24 deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan in October, 2017, in support of Task Force Southwest (TFSW). TFSW operated under Operation Freedom's Sentinel (OFS) as part of the Resolute Support Mission. Alpha Co. 1/24 was the second TFSW rotation, relieving Charlie Co. 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines of command. Alpha Co. 1/24's four platoons conducted missions regarding base security, guardian angel, and flight line security in and around the vicinity of Camp Shorabak and COP Bost. In December 2017 a vehicle born IED exploded inside the vehicle checkpoint of COP Bost. The suicide bomber caused multiple Afghan police casualties but none of the Marines in the vicinity of the blast were seriously harmed.