The more than 4,000 members of the Camp Lejeune-based 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit will be home from deployment in time for Christmas.
U.S. Fleet Forces Command spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Brian Badura told the Marine Corps Times that the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, on which the 24th MEU is deployed, will return from its current assignment in the Mediterranean Sea:
“They are currently scheduled to be home before the holidays."
Well, considering Hanukkah started this past weekend, I'm going to assume he means Christmas. But, as to be expected, the exact date of the homecoming hasn't been announced.
According to the Marine Corps Times, the 24th MEU was originally supposed to arrive home much earlier, but then...
[The Iwo Jima ARG] was ordered in mid-November to remain in the Mediterranean as a crisis-response force in the 6th Fleet area of responsibility, officials said at the time. That decision came just after the naval force had left the Mediterranean for the United States to wrap up the planned eight-month deployment.
The Iwo Jima ARG consists of the USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44), and USS New York (LPD 21).
