22nd MEU heads home to Lejeune

22nd MEU heads home to Lejeune
Staff report
Posted : Wednesday Dec 2, 2009 16:56:45 EST

About 2,200 Marines and sailors with a North Carolina-based unit are returning home this week after a seven-month deployment.

The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit out of Camp Lejeune will begin leaving the ships of the Norfolk, Va.-based Bataan Amphibious Ready Group on Thursday, according to a MEU release.

The unit was the first to conduct a shipboard deployment with MV-22 Ospreys. The aircraft, with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 out of Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., were flown from the ships last month to Afghanistan, where they were transferred to VMM-261. That squadron is there to support operations with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

The MEU did not go to Afghanistan, but the unit’s Marines and sailors conducted training in Sliven, Bulgaria; Volos, Greece; Alexandria, Egypt; and Camp Buehring, Kuwait.

“The 22nd MEU made a difference during our deployment, whether it was through community relations projects in various ports in Europe and the Middle East, or through theater security cooperation events that continued to strengthen relationships with our partners in Europe and the Middle East,” said Col. Gareth F. Brandl, the unit’s commanding officer.


Article at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/12/marine_22nd_meu_120209w/