Marines Say Farewell to Loved Ones Before Deploying to Afghanistan

The tears didn't start until the men and women of 1st Marine Division's Regimental Combat Team 5 (RCT-5) started boarding the buses. A Marine hugged and kissed his girlfriend before walking away. Tears streamed from her face. 

"Don't cry, mommy, don't cry," said her son, approximately 2 years old. As she held him, he clumsily wiped the tears from her face.

It was just after 4 a.m. when the buses departed to transport the Marines to March Air Force Base, where the team would begin its long flight to Afghanistan.

RCT-5 will replace RCT-1 in Helmand Province on a 1-year deployment. They will train and assist Afghan forces in securing the country from the Taliban threat. The move will comply with President Barack Obama's troop drawdown plan.  

A mass of civilians had waited in the parking lot for hours before RCT-5 departed on the group of buses. They stood in mixed clusters with Marines and wandered the grounds as loud generators hummed, powering the massive spotlights that illuminated the area.

Members of the Dana Point 5th Marines volunteer group set up canopies with coffee, candy and ChapStick for the departing Marines.

"This says a whole lot in the mindset of a Marine that's going in a foreign land or going away to do something—really kind of the unknown," said Maj. Gen. Ronald Bailey, commanding general of 1st Marine Division. "One of the unknowns that we want to take care of, or make sure that there's no question about it, is the family being taken care of in the rear."

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