 The 31st MEU arrived to support DSCA efforts in aiding local leadership and FEMA on 29 Oct., taking shelter at the international airport and establishing a command post.A more robust follow-on force arrived aboard the USS Ashland on 3 Nov., aiding with water purification, route clearance, damage assessments and restoration of municipal utilities.All told, the 31st MEU and CLB-31, which led the multiservice response effort on Tinian, cleared miles of roadway, purified more than 20,000 gallons of drinking water, and helped deliver and assemble more than 150 FEMA-provided shelters, handing control of the DSCA effort to the U.S. Navy Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 1 on 14 Nov.

A unit citation or commendation is an award bestowed upon an organization for the action cited.