Camp Pendleton Marines and Sailors leave for Afghanistan

Camp Pendleton Marines, Sailors Head To Afghanistan For War’s Final Chapter
KPBS News
By Susan Murphy
January 13, 2014

Hundreds of Camp Pendleton-based Marines are deploying to Afghanistan to close out the final chapter of America’s longest war.

On Monday, 140 troops with the I Marine Expeditionary Force's forward command are saying goodbye to friends and family. Upon their arrival in Afghanistan, they will relieve Marines and sailors from Camp Lejeune, N.C. in Helmand and Nimroz provinces.

In all, more than 4,000 Marines and sailors from 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Logistics Group and 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing will be heading to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The youngest of the deploying troops were merely in grade school at the start of the war in 2001.

“And then we’ll have Marines who have already deployed five or six times," said Lt. Col. Chris Perrine, director of public affairs for the I Marine Expeditionary Force Forward.
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