300 Lejeune Marines and Sailors Depart for Afghanistan

Another 300 Marines and sailors from Camp Lejeune are on their way to Afghanistan. Members of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment left the base late Monday afternoon.

Nine On Your Side’s Philip Jones was there and explains how these Marines are ready for whatever mission they might face:

Monday’s cold, cloudy weather matched the gloomy mood on base at Camp Lejeune as 300 Marines and sailors from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines said goodbye to their friends and families.

They’re packing up and shipping out to Afghanistan, where they’ll conduct counter-insurgency operations in partnership with Afghan National Security Forces.

Many of them have deployed to Iraq before, but one company commander is expecting a different set of challenges in Afghanistan—challenges he says these Marines are ready to meet.

“There’s a lot of changes going on right now in country,” said F Company Commander Capt. Junwei Sun. “So we’re able to adapt and we’re flexible. We’re ready for any kind of missions—whether it’s providing security on a day-to-day basis, or (whether) we’re going to go kinetic, full-out and just duke it out with the Taliban. Whichever mission is ahead of us, we’re ready to do it.”

But one thing no one here can ever be ready for is the pain of saying goodbye.

“It’s the same every time,” said LCpl. Jeff Kelley. “I hate it. It’s the worst part of the deployment.”

LCpl. Kelley has deployed twice before—once to Bahrain and once to Iraq. But that doesn’t make things any easier on his family.

“This is the worst deployment, I think,” said his mom, Donna. “Because there will be less contact with him. We won’t be able to send as many packages and things.”

Less contact may lead to more worries for these families. But they’re looking forward to a brighter day seven months from now when these Marines and sailors return home.

The 300 men and women who left Monday are about a third of the battalion’s 1,000 Marines and sailors who will all deploy to Afghanistan as part of the president’s troop build-up plan there.