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thedrifter
01-30-07, 01:05 PM
RCT-5 returns from Iraq today

By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jan 30, 2007 12:18:46 EST

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Members of Regimental Combat Team 5 will return home to Camp Pendleton today, officials said.

The return of RCT-5’s headquarters element caps a yearlong deployment to Iraq’s Anbar province as part of I Marine Expeditionary Force.

RCT-5 conducted combat and security operations in and around Fallujah and in the area stretching from western Baghdad to the outskirts of Ramadi, as well as helping train Iraqi police and security forces.

“We’re all excited about going home to see our families and loved ones,” Col. Larry Nicholson, RCT-5 and 5th Marines commander, said in a statement issued Monday. “It has been a long and challenging year for the regiment, but if you asked the Marines if they made a difference, they would say yes. I think the Marines have given their fullest measure.”

Nicholson handed command of combat forces in the region to Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based 6th Marines, led by Col. Richard Simcock, on Jan. 24.

With RCT-5’s departure, RCT-6 will lead a combat force of several thousand Marines, soldiers and sailors in the area as part of Multinational Forces-West.

“These two regiments were born during a time of national crisis and have served our nation in every clime and place since,” Nicholson added. “It’s fitting that during this time when our nation needs us the most, Marines from 5th and 6th Marine regiments are answering that call.

Ellie