 The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), originally designated the 17th Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU), formed at Camp Pendleton, California on 13 April 1979.The MAU was created to plan and participate in large-scale amphibious training exercises.In its early days, the unit also fulfilled requirements for a west coast based MAU to respond to contingencies, but was normally activated and deactivated based largely upon scheduled amphibious landing exercises directed by the Commander, Third Fleet.