22nd MEU returns from almost nine-month float

More than 4,000 sailors and Marines in the three-ship Bataan amphibious ready group are returning home.

The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit began returning to Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, on Sunday and the three ships of the ARG — amphibious assault ship Bataan, amphibious transport dock Mesa Verde and dock landing ship Gunston Hall — were scheduled to return home to the Norfolk, Virginia, area on Friday.

The Bataan ARG provided martime security and crisis response capabilities in 5th and 6th Fleets over an 8¾-month deployment that began Feb. 8. The ARG was extended three weeks in 5th Fleet after the president ordered airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

Though it exceeded the Navy's new goal of seven-month deployments by almost two months, this deployment was a far cry from the Bataan's record-setting, 322-day deployment just two years ago — the longest in nearly 40 years.

Bataan ARG sailors and Marines were the first to qualify for a new deployment pay approved Sept. 17 —the very first day they became eligible.

It was the first float for the great majority of the Marines. The MEU, commanded by Col. William Dunn, comprised Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 (Reinforced), Combat Logistics Battalion 22 and its command element.

The Bataan and Mesa Verde will return to Naval Station Norfolk. Gunston Hall is homeported at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story.

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