Marine Corps
GalleryMarines, sailors with Bataan amphibious group return home to North Carolina
Stars and Stripes
March 18, 2024
U.S. Marines and sailors with Lakota Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/6, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) return home after completing an eight-month deployment embarked aboard the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group. During its deployment, the Bataan ARG and 26th MEU(SOC) team participated in a wide array of exercises with NATO allies and regional partners to enhance interoperability, readiness, and provide crisis response options. (Cassidy Shepherd/U.S. Marine Corps)
The first waves of Marines and sailors with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit returned home to North Carolina following an extended eight-month deployment with the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group.
Marines and sailors with Bataan ARG were expected to return home in several waves beginning Saturday. The first wave included the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Mesa Verde, which returned to port in Morehead City, N.C., on Sunday.
More Marines with Combat Logistics Battalion 22 and Lakota Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/6 arrived at Camp Lejeune on Sunday and Monday.
U.S. Marines and sailors with Lakota Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/6, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) returned home after completing an eight-month deployment embarked aboard the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group. (Cassidy Shepherd/U.S. Marine Corps)
The Bataan ARG includes the Mesa Verde, the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan and the Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship USS Carter Hall.
The 26th MEU is based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Sailors and Marines returned to Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina.
The deployment marked the first time the Marine Corps and II Marine Expeditionary Force were able to certify and employ a special operations capable Marine Expeditionary Unit in over two decades, according to a news release from the 26th MEU.
U.S. Marines and sailors with Lakota Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/6, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) returned home after completing an eight-month deployment embarked aboard the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group. (Cassidy Shepherd/U.S. Marine Corps)
The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group departed from Norfolk on July 10 on a deployment that began with Iran’s attempted seizures of commercial ships and continued amid the Middle East’s expanding upheaval. Since December, the group had been in the Mediterranean to help keep the Israel-Hamas war from expanding.
“Our presence in the eastern Mediterranean was exactly what our nation needed: an integrated Navy and Marine Corps force ready to respond when called upon,” Capt. Martin Robertson, commodore of Amphibious Squadron 8, said in the release announcing the Bataan ARG’s departure from the region.
Early in the deployment, as Bataan and Carter Hall worked to counter Iranian aggression in the Persian Gulf, Mesa Verde, along with the embarked 26th MEU Bravo Command, operated in the NAVEUR-6th Fleet area of responsibility, taking part in exercises and other operations in the Baltic Sea. That included a September port call in Riga, Latvia, and participation in a German-led naval exercise with other NATO nations and European Union countries the same month. The three ships rejoined in December for duty in the Mediterranean.
A U.S. Marine with the Combat Logistics Battalion 22, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) reunites with his family at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Sunday, March 17, 2024. (Jackson Kirkiewicz/U.S. Marine Corps)
In January, the USS Gerald R. Ford returned to Norfolk after an eight-month deployment to the U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations, leaving the Bataan ARG on duty.
It was unclear whether the Navy intended to send another similar group or ship into the Mediterranean, which has had a nearly continuous presence of an aircraft carrier or amphibious ready group since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Stars and Stripes reporter Alison Bath contributed to this report.
U.S. Marines and sailors with Lakota Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/6, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) (MEU(SOC)) returned home after completing an eight-month deployment embarked aboard the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group. (Cassidy Shepherd/U.S. Marine Corps)
A U.S. Marine with Combat Logistics Battalion 22, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) reunites with his wife after returning from deployment to Camp Lejeune, N.C., Monday, March 18, 2024. (Jackson Kirkiewicz/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Jacob Crippes, a logistics officer with Combat Logistics Battalion 22, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) reunites with his family at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Monday, March 18, 2024. (Jackson Kirkiewicz/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marines and sailors with Lakota Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/6, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) returned home after completing an eight-month deployment embarked aboard the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group. (Cassidy Shepherd/U.S. Marine Corps)
A U.S. Marine with Combat Logistics Battalion 22, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) (MEU(SOC)) reunites with his friend at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Sunday, March 17, 2024. (Jackson Kirkiewicz/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marines and sailors with Lakota Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/6, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) returned home after completing an eight-month deployment embarked aboard the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group. (Cassidy Shepherd/U.S. Marine Corps)
A U.S. Marine with Combat Logistics Battalion 22, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) reunites with his family at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Monday, March 18, 2024. (Jackson Kirkiewicz/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marines and sailors with Lakota Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/6, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) returned home after completing an eight-month deployment embarked aboard the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group. (Cassidy Shepherd/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marines offload from San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) after returning from deployment with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), Morehead City, N.C., Sunday, March 17, 2024. Marines and sailors assigned to the 26th MEU returned home after completing an eight-month deployment embarked aboard the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (Rafael Brambila-Pelayo/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Gustavo Baxton (left), and Cpl. Nahson Aboytes (right), with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) embrace their loved ones after returning from deployment with the 26th MEU, Camp Lejeune, N.C., Sunday, March 17, 2024. (Rafael Brambila-Pelayo/U.S. Marine Corps)
Marines and sailors aboard San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) salute the ship’s colors after returning from deployment with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), Morehead City, N.C., Sunday, March 17, 2024. (Rafael Brambila-Pelayo/U.S. Marine Corps)
A U.S. Marine kisses his wife after returning from deployment with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., Saturday, March 16, 2024. (Rafael Brambila-Pelayo/U.S. Marine Corps)
Family members of Marines with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit await the arrival of their service members after returning from deployment with the 26th MEU, Camp Lejeune, N.C., Sunday, March 17, 2024. (Rafael Brambila-Pelayo/U.S. Marine Corps)
A U.S. Marine is reunited with a loved one after returning from deployment with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., Saturday, March 16, 2024. (Rafael Brambila-Pelayo/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Taylor Keaton, an MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor mechanic assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162 (Reinforced), guides a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle while offloading from San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) after returning from deployment with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Morehead City, N.C., Sunday, March 17, 2024. (Rafael Brambila-Pelayo/U.S. Marine Corps)
A U.S. Marine MV-22B Osprey pilot is reunited with a loved one after returning from deployment with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., Saturday, March 16, 2024. (Rafael Brambila-Pelayo/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marine AV-8B Harrier pilot Maj. Brian Neri, assigned to Marine Attack Squadron 231 Detachment, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162 (Reinforced), 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) reunites with his family after returning from deployment at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., Saturday, March 16, 2024. (Aziza Kamuhanda/U.S. Marine Corps)
The family of a U.S. Marine wait to reunite with their service member after returning from deployment with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., Saturday, March 16, 2024. (Rafael Brambila-Pelayo/U.S. Marine Corps)
A U.S. Marine AV-8B Harrier pilot assigned to Marine Attack Squadron 231 Detachment, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162 (Reinforced), 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) is reunited with his wife after returning from deployment at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., Saturday, March 16, 2024. (Aziza Kamuhanda/U.S. Marine Corps)
Family members of a U.S. Marine wait to reunite with their service member after returning from deployment with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., Saturday, March 16, 2024. (Rafael Brambila-Pelayo/U.S. Marine Corps)
An MV-22B Osprey assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162 (VMM-162) Reinforced prepares to offload Marines returning from deployment with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., Saturday, March 16, 2024. (Rafael Brambila-Pelayo/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marines assigned to Marine Attack Squadron 231 Detachment, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162 (Reinforced), 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) prepare to disembark an AV-8B Harrier after returning from deployment at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., Saturday, March 16, 2024. (Aziza Kamuhanda/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marine Maj. Brian Neri, an AV-8B Harrier pilot assigned to Marine Attack Squadron 231 Detachment, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162 (Reinforced), 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) is reunited with his wife after returning from deployment at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., Saturday, March 16, 2024. (Aziza Kamuhanda/U.S. Marine Corps)
U.S. Marine AV-8B Harrier pilot Maj. Brian Neri, assigned to Marine Attack Squadron 231 Detachment, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162 (Reinforced), 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) reunites with his family after returning from deployment at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., Saturday, March 16, 2024. (Aziza Kamuhanda/U.S. Marine Corps)
A U.S. Marine AV-8B pilot assigned to Marine Attack Squadron 231 Detachment, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162 (Reinforced), 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) reunites with his family after returning from deployment at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., Saturday, March 16, 2024. (Aziza Kamuhanda/U.S. Marine Corps)