Combat Logistics Battalion 4 returns to Okinawa from 7-month Iraq deployment

Photo By Cpl. Eric Arndt | Bailey Liddell hugs her father, Capt. Gary Liddel, at a welcome home reception at the Camp Foster Community Center, March 13. Liddell and hundreds of other Marines and Sailors with Combat Logistics Battalion 4 returned home from a seven-month Iraq deployment March 13 and 20. (Official Marine Corps photo/Staff Sgt. Ricardo Morales)  

IRAQ

03.21.2008

Story by Lance Cpl. Daniel Todd 

III Marine Expeditionary Force   

By Lance Cpl. Daniel Todd
3rd Marine Expeditionary Force

CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, Japan — Awaiting her husband's arrival at the Camp Foster Community Center March 13, Donna Sargent was told he would be walking through the door in five minutes. It was 1:30 a.m, and Sargent and her three boys hadn't seen Staff Sgt. Jason Sargent since he left for Iraq seven months earlier. She gathered her boys – John, Michael and Mathew – and waited anxiously.

Minutes later, Jason walked through the doors.

"Look, there's daddy," Donna said excitedly. The boys ran to their father, who kneeled to scoop them into his arms. Tears ran down John's face. Michael hugged his father as hard as he could, and Mathew yelled "Daddy, daddy, daddy," his face glowing.

Jason was one of 117 Marines with Combat Logistics Battalion 4, Combat Logistics Regiment 3, 3rd Marine Logistics Group who reunited with friends and family at the Community Center that night. They were the first group of CLB-4 Marines to return home. The other 241 Marines returned March 20.

"There really aren't words to describe how I feel right now," Jason said. "My family is my life. Every day I thought of them and how they were doing."

CLB-4 provided direct logistic support to Regimental Combat Teams 2 and 5, as well as general support to Multi-National Force West units located in and around forward operating bases throughout western Anbar Province.

The Marines and Sailors of CLB-4 provided more than 240 logistical re-supply convoys, 110 route security patrols, 45 helicopter support missions, two air delivery missions, more than 90 rapid-response security escorts for explosive ordnance disposal missions, more than 20 blast crater repair missions, and more than 20 vehicle recovery missions according to CLB-4 executive officer Maj. Kenneth Quiner.

Quiner said the unit also managed and processed more than 100 transportation movement requests and more than 250 rapid requests and facilitated the rapid movement of more than 1,300 mission-essential personnel throughout the area of support operations.

"The Marines and Sailors of CLB-4 contributed immeasurably to the success of counterinsurgency operations in western Anbar Province," Quiner said. "Their superior adaptability in a constantly changing environment, coupled with keen situational awareness and professionalism, resulted in increased responsiveness and support to each supported unit."

• Date Taken: 03.21.2008
• Date Posted: 03.25.2008 21:23
• Story ID: 17742
• Location: IQ