Indian Head –
Cmdr. Luke Marion relieved Cmdr. Stan Allen as Expeditionary Exploitation Unit ONE (EXU-1) commanding officer at a change of command ceremony onboard Naval Support Facility Indian Head in Indian Head, Maryland, September 3.
“The best leaders make standards clear. They do not leave professionalism, safety, discipline or respect open to interpretation. They establish a command climate in which people understand the mission, know their role, and recognize that excellence is not occasional—it is the baseline,” said Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division (NSWC IHD) Commanding Officer Capt. Paul Mahoney in his opening remarks. “I’ve been nothing but impressed with the great culture that Stan has cultivated here.”
EXU-1 leads NSWC IHD’s mission to collect, process, exploit and analyze improvised and conventional weapons, ordnance and components. The command provides near real-time technical intelligence to tactical commanders, the explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) community, service components, the Department of War, national-level intelligence agencies and allied and partner nations.
“This was one of the most rewarding professional experiences of my life,” said Allen, who is also retiring after 31 years of service to the U.S. Navy. “If our currency here [at EXU-1] is reporting and information, this team has operated like it created the mint of currency.”
Marion brings extensive EOD experience and leadership to EXU-1—a detachment under NSWC IHD established in 2006. He served as a platoon commander at EOD Mobile Unit EIGHT, EOD Mobile Unit FIVE, and EXU-1, where he led EOD and exploitation platoons on combat and contingency deployments to the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Fleet areas of operation in support of Operations Enduring Freedom, Inherent Resolve and New Normal.
“Today is an incredible honor for me. It’s a bit surreal,” said Marion, who also previously served as EXU-1’s operations officer. “To stand here today as the commanding officer is both a dream come true and incredibly humbling.”
The secretary of the navy established EXU-1 as an Echelon V command in 2017. In 2018, it was formally established as a stand-alone command. EXU-1 personnel are forward-deployed in seven foreign countries and one U.S. territory, covering exploitation requirements in the U.S. 5th, 6th and 7th Fleets.
NSWC IHD — a field activity of the Naval Sea Systems Command and part of the Navy’s Science and Engineering Establishment — is the leader in ordnance, energetics, and EOD solutions. The Division focuses on energetics research, development, testing, evaluation, in-service support, manufacturing and disposal; and provides warfighters solutions to detect, locate, access, identify, render safe, recover, exploit and dispose of explosive ordnance threats.