New Wave of Marines Shipping out to Afghanistan

As Defense spending is proposed to be cut and Military forces are spread throughout the world, another wave of Marines from Camp Pendelton ships out, not to Japan, but to Sangin in Afghanistan.

Returning home are the 3/5. Twenty-four Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment have been killed in Sangin since September; five other Marines from units assigned to support the battalion have also been killed. 3/5 is the main unit in Sangin.

The 3/5 is being replaced by the 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment. "Officers, including the top Marine general in Afghanistan, have been blunt: The Marines of One-Five are in for a fight." Along with the 150 Marines shipping to Afghanistan will be 13 bomb sniffing dogs.

 Marine brass are expecting the Taliban to mount a counter-offensive in an effort to reclaim key terrain in Helmand province, the poppy-cropping center of Afghanistan. The poppy crop, which becomes heroin, provides the profits that fuel the insurgency.

Photo from militaryphotos.net
Quote source LA Times