2/1's yearlong rotation with 31st MEU ends

Members of 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment sit atop medical records prepared for shipment back to Camp Pendleton, Calif. The battalion returned home after a yearlong deployment as the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit's Battalion Landing Team. 2/1, was replaced by 2/4 Jan. 19. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Tyler J. Hlavac).

2/4 picks up duty as new battalion landing team

Lance Cpl. Jason Spinella

CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa (February 1, 2008) -- After a year of duty as the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit's battalion landing team, the Marines and sailors of 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, or 2/1, are heading home.

The Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based battalion, which served as the MEU's BLT since January 2007, was replaced Jan. 19 by 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, or 2/4, also from Pendleton.

The 2/1 Marines and sailors conducted many exercises in 2007 that helped them grow and prepared them for future missions.

"After training on the MEU and working with other militaries, 2/1 will be more successful whenever they do deploy to Iraq and work with the Iraqi Army," said BLT 2/1 Sgt. Maj. Sylvester Daniels.

2/1 was initially scheduled for a six-month rotation, but their tour was extended an extra six months. Daniels said the extension made them closer as a unit.

With the MEU, the battalion trained alongside militaries from the Republic of Korea, Australia, the Kingdom of Cambodia, and the Republic of the Philippines.

"Korea was really cold, and Australia was miserably wet," Daniels said. "After experiencing something like that together, Marines just tend to bond more."

Pfc. Carlos Morales, a grenadier with BLT 2/1, also said deploying together for such a long period helped build unit camaraderie.

"(All) we had was each other, " he said. "Everything was new, and we had to learn together."

Morales also said the exercises 2/1 conducted were very beneficial because they offered diverse training in different environments.

"Training with the foreign militaries was good because we were able to teach them our urban combat tactics, and it gave us a chance to practice jungle warfare," Morales said.

The new BLT is scheduled to conduct training comparable to that of 2/1. Master Gunnery Sgt. Harry Bush, operations chief, BLT 2/4, said he looks forward to the training his Marines will conduct with the 31st MEU this spring.

"Most of the training the Marines of 2/4 have received has been for Iraq, so this will be totally different," explained Bush.

As the MEU's new ground combat element, BLT 2/4 is scheduled to conduct a variety of training exercises including MEU-specific exercises that will prepare the Marines and sailors for possible non-combatant evacuation operations or recovery operations such as a tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel mission. The MEU is scheduled to deploy with the USS Essex Amphibious Ready Group this spring.