This afternoon, I woke up to discover that the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) were working in the Coastal Georgia and Lowcountry South Carolina area for an exercise. I’ll only be in the Savannah area for a couple of days this week, but if anyone else is interested in trying to listen in, here’s what the Airspy R2 was able to dig up this afternoon and evening:

251.175 - 22nd MEU/Aerial Refueling
255.825 - 22nd MEU
266.075 - 22nd MEU
308.525 - 22nd MEU
352.175 - 22nd MEU/VMA-542 Air-to-Air
353.325 - 22nd MEU/VMA-542 Air-to-Air
354.925 - 22nd MEU
254.600 - Unknown
280.950 - Unknown
323.275 - Unknown
364.425 - Unknown

In addition, the usual ATC and Operating Area frequencies were in use. I caught them on Beaufort Approach/Departure and Jacksonville Center frequencies as they transited between op areas. They seemed to be working around the Parris Island area in South Carolina and Townsend Range in coastal Georgia

125.125/292.125/123.700/269.125 - Beaufort App/Dep    
282.200/124.675 - Jax Center Jekyll Low
363.200/132.925 - Jax Center Allendale/Savannah Low
120.950/284.500 - Sealord North Primary
313.700 - Sealord North Secondary
228.400 - Townsend Range/Coastal MOA 

Here are the callsigns from the activity I heard. I’m pretty sure that the MISTYs were VMA-542 AV-8Bs and the THUNDERs were VMM-263 MV-22Bs. One of the THUNDERs showed up on ADS-B Exchange leaving North Field en route to the Beaufort/Parris Island area this evening. OTIS 34 was doing aerial refueling with the MISTYs; it came out from Savannah-Hilton Head IAP and apparently stopped at Joint Base Charleston before going back to MCAS Cherry Point.

MISTY - AV-8B, 22nd MEU/VMA-542
THUNDER - MV-22B, 22nd MEU/VMM-263
OTIS - KC-130J, VMGR-252