Marine units from Camp Pendleton and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar are among several the Pentagon announced that will receive Presidential Unit Citations for their efforts in Kabul, Afghanistan two years ago.
The award is the highest unit-level award in the U.S. military.
Marines from the Camp Pendleton-based 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment were deployed to the Middle East as part of a rotational force when Afghanistan began to fall to the Taliban ahead of the announced Aug. 31, 2021 U.S. withdrawal from the country.
The Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Crisis Response unit, to which 2/1 was attached, was dispatched to the Hamid Karzai International Airport as tens of thousands of Afghans rushed to escape the country.
Units from the Army and Air Force were also sent to the airport during the frenzied withdrawal.
On Aug. 26, 2021, a suicide bomber detonated a device near the airport's Abbey Gate, killing more than 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members.
10 of the U.S. troops killed were based at Camp Pendleton.
Other San Diego units at the Kabul airport will also receive the citation, according to the Pentagon. Those include the Camp Pendleton-based Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 364 and two Miramar-based squadrons — Marine Wing Support Squadron 373 and Marine Aerial Refueler Squadron 352, Military Times reported.
More than 30 units across the Marine Corps and Army are receiving the award.
