RCT-2 command element returns to Lejeune

[unhappycamper]

RCT-2 command element returns to Lejeune
Staff report
Posted : Wednesday Jan 23, 2008 12:32:03 EST

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — The command element of Regimental Combat Team 2 is expected to arrive here today after a 13-month deployment in Iraq.

Throughout its third combat deployment, RCT-2 conducted counterinsurgency operations in western Anbar province. The roughly 350-man regimental headquarters initially directed operations in an area of more than 30,000 square miles; it later burgeoned to 50,000 square miles, including a 210-mile border with Syria, according to a II Marine Expeditionary Force press release.

Nearly 15,000 Marines, sailors and soldiers and 11 infantry battalions rotated through western Anbar under RCT-2.

The remainder of the regiment is expected to return later this month.

Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based RCT-5 took over from RCT-2 during a transfer of authority ceremony Tuesday.

Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/01/marine_rct2_returns_080123/