4th Civil Affairs Group

4th Civil Affairs Group (4th CAG) is a civil affairs (CA) unit of the United States Marine Corps. It is based at Naval Support Facility Anacostia, Washington, D.C. It is one of only three civil affairs groups in the Marine Corps, all of which are reserve units. 4th CAG was the first civil affairs group in the Marine Corps and mostly supports II MEF.

Organization
4th CAG is commanded by a Colonel and the unit has 38 Marine officers, 85 Marine enlisted, 4 Navy officers and 1 Navy enlisted. The unit consists of one (1) Headquarters Detachment and four (4) Line Detachments. Civil Affairs Marines carry the secondary Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) 0530/0531 (Civil Affairs Officer/Specialist) in addition to their primary MOS.

History
On November 1, 1955, 4th CAG was activated originally as 5th Staff Group at Henderson Hall, Arlington, Virginia. In 1973, the unit had a table of organization of 30 officers and 50 enlisted and was commanded by Colonel J. Z. Taylor. In the late 1970s, 4th CAG supported several iterations of Operation Solid Shield with NATO. In 1979, 4th CAG was relocated to Naval Support Facility Anacostia. 4th CAG activated several Marines for the first time in the unit's history to support Operation Just Cause in Panama. The entire unit was activated for the first time in December 1990 and deployed for Operation Desert Storm in 1991. During Operation Desert Storm, 4th CAG was assigned to 2nd Marine Division and helped process over 10,000 Iraqi POWs. Immediately upon return from the Middle East, a detachment from 4th CAG deployed to Northern Iraq in support of Operation Provide Comfort to provide humanitarian aid to Kurdish refugees. 4th CAG sent numerous detachments to the Balkans in mid-1990s until 2003. 4th CAG participated in numerous New Horizons missions in Central/South America and the Caribbean Islands. 4th CAG deployed to Iraq three times for Operation Iraqi Freedom: (1) February to September 2003, (2) August 2004 to March 2005 and (3) September 2006 to April 2007. 4th CAG sent a detachment to support Joint Task Force Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana from September to October 2005. 4th CAG also sent detachments to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom in May 2009 and November 2009 and participated in Operation Strike of the Sword.

Unit awards

 * US Navy Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon.png Presidential Unit Citation
 * March 21, 2003 to April 24, 2003 (with I MEF)
 * May 29, 2009 to April 12, 2010 (with 2d MEB)
 * Navy Unit Commendation ribbon.svg Navy Unit Commendation
 * January 1997 to November 2001
 * August 2, 2004 to February 1, 2005 (with I MEF)
 * September 2006 to March 2007 (with I & II MEF)
 * Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation ribbon.svg Meritorious Unit Commendation
 * August 1, 1990 to June 30, 1991 (with 4th MarDiv)
 * Commandant of the Marine Corps Certificate of Commendation 001.jpg Commandant of the Marine Corps Certificate of Commendation
 * December 1978 to December 1980

Notable members

 * Richard Blumenthal, U.S. Senator from Connecticut
 * Rich Brenner, sportscaster
 * Bill Cahir, ran for United States Congress, subsequently killed in action with the CAG in Afghanistan on 13 August 2009
 * C. Boyden Gray, diplomat
 * Paul Hackett, ran for United States Congress
 * Andrew Horne, ran for United States Congress
 * Mackubin Thomas Owens, writer
 * Arnold L. Punaro, retired Major General