Combat Logistics Battalion 31

Combat Logistics Battalion 31, commonly abbreviated CLB-31, is a United States Marine Corps logistics battalion based at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, Japan. It serves as the Logistics Combat Element of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, the Marine Corps's only continuously forward-deployed MEU. Although the battalion is assigned administratively to the 3rd Marine Logistics Group, it remains permanently associated with the 31st MEU and deploys as part of the MEU's combined maritime force. The battalion's role is to provide ground combat service support so that the 31st MEU can conduct expeditionary operations, special operations as directed, crisis response, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and other missions across the Indo-Pacific. Its support extends to the MEU headquarters, the embarked Battalion Landing Team, aviation elements, and other attached forces. The organization combines command and staff functions with transportation, engineering, maintenance, supply, landing support, communications, military police, explosive ordnance disposal, and health-service capabilities. It also provides ammunition, postal, and disbursing services. CLB-31's logistics work is designed for dispersed and austere operations rather than fixed commercial distribution. Its personnel move personnel, equipment, fuel, water, food, medical supplies, and other materiel by road, ship, aircraft, and expeditionary distribution networks. Engineering elements can support utilities, heavy equipment, bulk water, and bulk fuel requirements, while maintenance personnel sustain motor transport, communications, engineer, and ordnance systems. Medical and dental personnel provide health-service support, including general medical care and trauma-related capabilities. The battalion also maintains special capabilities associated with the 31st MEU's maritime contingency mission. These include mass-casualty evacuation, known as Nightingale; evacuation-control and non-combatant evacuation operations; humanitarian assistance and disaster relief; and Humanitarian Assistance Survey Teams that assess needs after disasters. This combination allows CLB-31 to support both combat operations and civil-support missions, often in countries and territories affected by earthquakes, typhoons, floods, mudslides, or other emergencies. The unit traces its lineage to Logistics Support Unit 31, activated at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, on 15 June 1979. It was redesignated Marine Amphibious Unit Service Support Group 31 later that year, deactivated in 1985, and reactivated in Okinawa in 1992 as Marine Expeditionary Unit Service Support Group 31. The logistics organization has participated in the 31st MEU's operations since its reactivation, including non-combatant evacuation, East Timor operations, combat in Iraq, and repeated disaster-relief missions throughout the Indo-Pacific. In June 2012, it adopted the title "Atlas Battalion," invoking the mythological figure who carried the weight of the heavens as a symbol of enduring support. CLB-31 is not a consumer-facing brand or commercial logistics company. Its identity is an institutional military identity centered on readiness, mobility, sustainment, and dependable support to forward-deployed Marine forces. Its public profile derives from its operational history and disaster-response activities rather than from products, sales, or financial performance.

Combat Logistics Battalion 31 developed from the logistics organizations that accompanied the 31st Marine Amphibious Unit and its successor, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. Its identifiable lineage begins with the activation of Logistics Support Unit 31 at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, on 15 June 1979. On 17 October of the same year, the unit was redesignated Marine Amphibious Unit Service Support Group 31. The organization was deactivated with the other elements of the 31st Marine Amphibious Unit on 29 April 1985. A staff nucleus was activated in May 1992, and personnel and equipment were subsequently provided through the 3rd Force Service Support Group. The reconstituted Marine Expeditionary Unit Service Support Group 31 became operational by the end of 1992 and was formally reactivated on 1 August 1992 at Camp Kinser, Okinawa. The organization later became Combat Logistics Battalion 31. Since its reactivation, the battalion has remained associated with the 31st MEU and has supported every operation identified in the reference history. The battalion's missions have covered both military operations and civil-support contingencies. During Operation Desert Fox in December 1998, the 31st MEU and Belleau Wood Amphibious Ready Group served as a theater reserve. The logistics group divided its forces, with one element supporting the evacuation of 90 American citizens from Kuwait while the remainder of the MEU participated in the operation. In 1999 and 2000, the unit supported Operation Stabilise in East Timor as part of the international force assisting the territory's transition under United Nations administration. From September 2004 through March 2005, the logistics organization supported combat operations in Iraq, including activities associated with Operation Phantom Fury. Its support included the movement of medical materials and other urgently required supplies to Marine units operating in Fallujah. This deployment demonstrated the battalion's role in sustaining dispersed combat formations under difficult operational conditions. The unit subsequently performed a series of disaster-relief missions across the Indo-Pacific. It assisted communities in southern Leyte after mudslides in 2006, contributed to Operation Caring Response after Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008, and supported relief operations in the Philippines after Typhoons Ketsana and Parma in 2009 and Super Typhoon Megi in 2010. During Operation Tomodachi in 2011, the battalion moved from Indonesia to mainland Japan after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. It delivered 82 tons of relief supplies and supported debris removal, distribution, and life-support activities on Oshima Island. In June 2012, the battalion adopted the title Atlas Battalion. The name refers to the mythological Atlas and emphasizes the idea of carrying the weight of a larger effort. It reflects CLB-31's position as the sustainment foundation for a MEU that remains forward deployed for much of the year. The battalion's disaster-response role was especially visible after Typhoon Soudelor struck Saipan in 2015. While participating in a certification exercise near Guam and Palau, elements were redirected to provide civil-support assistance. They produced 279,375 gallons of water, helped distribute a combined 366,200 gallons of potable water with the USS Ashland, distributed food, bottled and boxed water, and other relief supplies, powered a communications tower, and helped clear storm debris from schools and public parks. In 2016, CLB-31 sent a Humanitarian Assistance Survey Team to Kumamoto after an earthquake. It also supported Exercise Ssang Yong 16 in South Korea, Exercise Valiant Shield, and Exercise PHIBLEX-33 with logistics, command-post, and training-area support. Today, CLB-31 is organized around headquarters, distribution and transportation, engineering, maintenance, supply, landing-support, communications, military-police, explosive-ordnance-disposal, and health-service functions. Its enduring purpose is to keep the 31st MEU mobile, supplied, medically supported, and ready to respond across the Indo-Pacific.

• 2012

  Atlas Battalion title adopted

  [1]Combat Logistics Battalion 31en.wikipedia.org

  CLB-31 adopted the Atlas Battalion identity to symbolize its sustaining role.

• 1992

  MSSG-31 reactivated in Okinawa

  [1]Combat Logistics Battalion 31en.wikipedia.org

  The logistics group was reactivated at Camp Kinser after a staff nucleus and supporting personnel and equipment had been assembled.

• 1985

  Unit deactivated

  [1]Combat Logistics Battalion 31en.wikipedia.org

  The organization was deactivated with the other elements of the 31st Marine Amphibious Unit.

• 1979

  Logistics Support Unit 31 activated

  [1]Combat Logistics Battalion 31en.wikipedia.org

  The unit was activated at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, establishing the lineage later associated with CLB-31.

• 1979

  Redesignated MSSG-31

  [1]Combat Logistics Battalion 31en.wikipedia.org

  The logistics unit became Marine Amphibious Unit Service Support Group 31.

A forward-deployed Marine Corps logistics formation positioned as the dependable sustainment backbone of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, with the flexibility to shift between combat support, crisis response, evacuation, and humanitarian relief.

• Military logistics

  Combat service support

  CLB-31 provides the 31st MEU and attached forces with the personnel, materiel, transportation, maintenance, engineering, medical, supply, and administrative support required for expeditionary operations. The service is delivered through a flexible organization intended to operate from ships, expeditionary bases, and austere land locations.

• Emergency response

  Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief

  The battalion supports disaster response through needs assessment, water production, supply distribution, engineering assistance, communications support, debris removal, and other forms of civil-support activity. Its capabilities have been used after earthquakes, typhoons, mudslides, and other regional disasters.

• Contingency operations

  Non-combatant evacuation operations

  CLB-31 can provide evacuation-control and logistics support for the movement and reception of civilians during crises. This capability was demonstrated by the unit's support for the evacuation of American citizens from Kuwait in 1998.

• Operational logistics

  Expeditionary engineering and distribution

  Engineering, motor-transport, landing-support, fuel, water, and supply elements enable the battalion to distribute resources across remote operating areas. These functions include heavy-equipment employment, bulk water and fuel support, utilities, vehicle movement, and logistics-area management.

• 2015Saipan Typhoon Soudelor response

  Saipan · Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

  Elements were redirected from a certification exercise to provide disaster relief after Typhoon Soudelor.

  Outcome. The battalion produced water, distributed relief supplies, powered a communications tower, and cleared debris from public sites.

  Source
• 2011Operation Tomodachi

  Japan

  The battalion supported relief operations after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, delivering supplies and assisting Oshima Island.

  Outcome. It delivered 82 tons of food, water, and relief supplies and helped with debris removal and life support.

  Source
• 2008Operation Caring Response

  Myanmar

  CLB-31 supported disaster-relief activity after Cyclone Nargis.

  Outcome. The unit contributed logistics assistance to the regional humanitarian response.

  Source
• 2006Southern Leyte disaster relief

  Philippines

  The battalion provided assistance after mudslides affected southern Leyte.

  Outcome. The unit contributed emergency relief support to affected communities.

  Source
• 2004Operation Iraqi Freedom

  Iraq

  The battalion supported combat operations from September 2004 through March 2005, including logistics support associated with Operation Phantom Fury.

  Outcome. CLB-31 sustained Marine combat formations and emergency medical-logistics requirements during the deployment.

  Source
• 1999Operation Stabilise

  East Timor

  MSSG-31 supported the Australian-led international force assisting East Timor during September–October 1999 and again from January to February 2000.

  Outcome. The unit contributed logistics support to the international stabilization effort.

  Source
• 1998Operation Desert Fox support

  Kuwait · Persian Gulf

  The unit supported the 31st MEU's theater-reserve role and helped conduct a non-combatant evacuation of 90 American citizens from Kuwait.

  Outcome. The evacuation mission was completed while other elements supported the wider operation.

  Source

• 2012

  Adoption of the Atlas Battalion identityStrategy

  Background

  The battalion sought an identity reflecting its persistent forward deployment and its role in carrying the sustainment burden of the 31st MEU.

  Action taken

  CLB-31 adopted the title Atlas Battalion, drawing on the mythological figure associated with carrying the heavens.

  Aftermath

  The title became a public symbol of the battalion's support and endurance mission.

  Source

1. 1Combat Logistics Battalion 31en.wikipedia.org