22nd MEU members due home in next few days

[unhappycamper]

22nd MEU members due home in next few days
Staff report
Posted : Monday Jan 28, 2008 16:46:40 EST

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — About 2,200 members of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are returning here within the next several days following a routine six-month deployment.

The 22nd MEU, aboard the ships of the Norfolk, Va.-based Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike Group, visited 14 countries and flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also supported a major cyclone relief effort in Bangladesh, a regional security summit in Bahrain, and President Bush’s recent visit to Israel, according to a MEU press release.

Thanks to MEU air assets, a unit of 600 soldiers and airmen was airlifted from Iraq to Kuwait after their unit’s scheduled transportation was tasked with other missions.

Meanwhile, jets from the MEU’s aviation combat element flew missions in Iraq. Six AV-8B Harriers flew 68 sorties in Iraq in support of ground units. For four days in late October, the Harriers acted as convoy escorts and delivered precision-guided munitions on enemy targets when coalition forces were engaged, according to the release.

“The Harrier missions flown in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom are a testament to the flexibility of a Marine Expeditionary Unit,” Col. Doug Stilwell, the MEU’s commanding officer, said in the release. “The fact that we can support forces over a broad geographic area, even while most of the MEU is training elsewhere, really highlights the MEU’s capabilities as a war fighting organization.”


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/01/marine_22nd_meu_returns_080128/