thedrifter
03-24-09, 06:40 AM
26th MEU returning to Lejeune this week
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Mar 23, 2009 15:06:20 EDT
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — About 2,300 Marines and sailors are returning to their North Carolina base this week after spending seven months aboard Navy ships and training with allies in the Middle East.
Members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit of Camp Lejeune stayed aboard ships in the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf. The troops and their equipment are returning to the coastal base Monday through Wednesday.
About 50 Marines from the unit were sent to Iraq to help maintain aircraft. But the rest of the unit’s deployment more closely resembled its routine before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The MEU conducted what was once a traditional peacetime MEU deployment,” said unit spokesman Gunnery Sgt. Bryce Piper, adding that a small unit was sent to conduct counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.
Troops will come ashore Monday through Wednesday. Some will make traditional beach landings at the base and others will be flown by helicopter from ships to the base. A mass helicopter landing is planned Wednesday morning at Marine Corps Air Station New River, where families will greet their loved ones, Piper said.
Marines who were sent to Iraq with CH-53E helicopters transported personnel, cargo, fuel, food and water. They also conducted remote ground refueling for other aircraft and conducted raids.
The military said Lance Cpl. Chadwick A. Gilliam, 29, of Mayking, Ky., died in January of apparent cardiac arrest at a U.S. base in Kuwait.
Ellie
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Mar 23, 2009 15:06:20 EDT
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — About 2,300 Marines and sailors are returning to their North Carolina base this week after spending seven months aboard Navy ships and training with allies in the Middle East.
Members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit of Camp Lejeune stayed aboard ships in the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf. The troops and their equipment are returning to the coastal base Monday through Wednesday.
About 50 Marines from the unit were sent to Iraq to help maintain aircraft. But the rest of the unit’s deployment more closely resembled its routine before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The MEU conducted what was once a traditional peacetime MEU deployment,” said unit spokesman Gunnery Sgt. Bryce Piper, adding that a small unit was sent to conduct counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.
Troops will come ashore Monday through Wednesday. Some will make traditional beach landings at the base and others will be flown by helicopter from ships to the base. A mass helicopter landing is planned Wednesday morning at Marine Corps Air Station New River, where families will greet their loved ones, Piper said.
Marines who were sent to Iraq with CH-53E helicopters transported personnel, cargo, fuel, food and water. They also conducted remote ground refueling for other aircraft and conducted raids.
The military said Lance Cpl. Chadwick A. Gilliam, 29, of Mayking, Ky., died in January of apparent cardiac arrest at a U.S. base in Kuwait.
Ellie