3/5 H&S Company Returns from Afghanistan

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CAMP PENDLETON, CA

Hundreds of friends and family welcomed the return of over 250 Marines and Sailors of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines H&S Company on the evening of Monday, 11 April 2011.

The 3/5 "Darkhorse" Battalion began operations in the Sangin District of Afghanistan in October 2010, an area previously occupied by British troops. In January, LA Times writer Tony Perry reported that 3/5 pushed into areas that the British had not gone, where Taliban control was unchallenged, where opium crops used to fuel insurgency were grown, and bomb makers gathered to create explosives used in Sangin and neighboring Kandahar province.

3/5 experienced heavy casualties, especially in the beginning of the deployment as Taliban fighters repeatedly ambushed the Marines in hopes that they would retreat to their bases. This tactic may have proved effective with previous opponents, but 3/5 lived up to their motto: “Get Some” and actively engaged the Taliban in hundreds of offensive firefights while significantly expanded the security bubble outward from the Sangin district center. The Marines brought more troops, more artillery, more airstrikes, and more firepower to the region—giving the Taliban two choices: leave or fight and die.

Sangin, now dubbed “the Fallujah of Afghanistan,” has become a battleground in which Marines are fulfilling the battalion’s legacy earned at Belleau Wood, Guadalcanal, Okinawa, and the Chosin Reservoir. Marine Commandant Gen. James F. Amos describes the Marines of 3/5 as “a story of heroism, of courage, of fidelity.”

According to Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, who just turned over command of NATO Regional Command Southwest, “They’re the greatest generation we’ve ever raised. They’re volunteers, they know the threat; they don’t have to be here. Ninety-nine percent of their friends don’t come over here; and yet, they have the courage to take the step forward and do the job that has to be done. I stand in awe of them.”

The Regiment is standing by to receive the rest of the Battalion in a short time to come. Welcome home, Darkhorse. Job Well Done.

Kristy Bell
1^st Marine Division Association

Source: “Marines pay a price trying to secure an Afghan hot spot” by Tony Perry. LA Times < latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghanistan-marines-20110123,0,7828727.story>