Marine Corps Forces Central Command, which is in charge of the service's operations in an increasingly unstable Middle East currently roiled by last month's surprise Hamas attack on Israel, announced Wednesday that it would be canceling its annual Marine Corps ball due to "unforeseen operational commitments and the nature of our current mission."
A spokesperson for the command, also known as MARCENT, told Military.com after the announcement that the cancellation of the ball was a "prudent measure," given the situation unfolding out of Israel.
The service currently has a rapid response force in the region, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, or 26th MEU. As of last month, that unit had not been tasked with a specific mission, and the MARCENT spokesperson, Capt. Joe Wright, said that the command's posture in the Middle East has not changed.
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"Regretfully and with a strong sense of duty, I write to inform you of a decision that I had to make regarding the Marine Corps 248th Ball, scheduled for 16 November 2023," Maj. Gen. Christopher McPhillips, the commander of MARCENT, wrote Wednesday.
"Due to unforeseen operation commitments and the nature of our current mission, it is with great regret that we must cancel this year's event," he said.
The MARCENT X account, on the social media site formerly called Twitter, deleted the letter within minutes of posting. Wright said that the message was "pulled on Twitter because Twitter doesn't have the intended audience that we're trying to reach there."
Wright also said that the letter, unchanged, would be posted on Facebook instead later on Wednesday, adding that "we just got ahead of ourselves." The letter was dated Oct. 31.
"The intent of the letter from the outset was to inform folks that were planning on going to the ball to let them know, regrettably, it's not going to happen this year," Wright told Military.com. "And just to give them notice, well ahead of time, so that they can recoup the money that they might have committed to the planning or reservations."
The Middle East, an area that has seen more than two dozen attacks on U.S. personnel in the last few weeks in Iraq and Syria, has Marine Corps forces on alert as Israel has begun a ground incursion into Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Last week, the Pentagon said that it launched airstrikes at targets in eastern Syria linked to the Iranian military.
Wright confirmed that the ball cancellation was made due to the situation in Israel and the resulting uncertainty in the region, but added that there were "no major operational changes or changes in force posture."
Aside from being a prudent measure, Wright said, the move was meant to free up planning staff in the event the situation in the Middle East changes.
"It's just a matter of making sure that the staff maintains an alert mindset," he said.
-- Drew F. Lawrence can be reached at drew.lawrence@military.com. Follow him on X @df_lawrence.
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