Marines return from Haiti

Around 400 Marines and sailors who have been in Haiti for the last 10 weeks helping earthquake victims returned to home on Monday.

For many, it is their second homecoming in three months. In December, the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit returned from a seven-month deployment to Europe. Many of the Marines were still on post-deployment leave when they were told they would be loading up again and heading to the Caribbean to help the people of Haiti, a region devastated by a massive earthquake Jan. 12.

“It has been hard on all of us,” said Capt. Clark Carpenter, a spokesman for the 22nd MEU who deployed with the troops. “To have just returned and then have to leave again was not easy.”

The returning Marines and sailors were aboard the USS Carter Hall. They make up portions of Combat Logistics Battalion 22 and Battalion Landing Team, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment at Camp Lejeune.

Gunnery Sgt. Brian Milburn said he was happy to be home and really happy to see his family again. His wife and two sons were waiting for him when he stepped off the bus.

The remainder of 22nd MEU is scheduled to return before mid-April.

Carpenter said the quick response of the 22nd MEU in the days following the earthquake was “something to behold.” Less than 24 hours after the earthquake hit, the 22nd MEU received word they would be deploying to offer humanitarian aid. On Jan. 15, the ships that would carry them to their mission arrived at Morehead City. The next day, the 22nd MEU left for the Caribbean.

“The timeframe was unprecedented,” Carpenter said. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I had not seen it with my own two eyes.”

On Jan. 18, the Navy arrived at Haiti and Marines began reconnaissance of the devastation. The following day, Marines established a landing zone and began delivering emergency food, water and medical supplies to the survivors of the earthquake's epicenter, the town of Leogane, 16 miles west of the nation’s capital of Port-au-Prince. An estimated 230,000 people died; 300,000 were injured; and more than 1 million were left homeless by the quake and its aftershocks, according to Associated Press reports.

Within a week of arrival, Marines and sailors, and some from Cherry Point, had set up floating hospitals aboard naval ships and were making drinking water in emergency desalinization plants.

“We worked a mostly sea-based operation so as to not leave a footprint behind,” Carpenter said. “We did not want to strain an already strained infrastructure.”

Within two weeks, the U.S. military has stabilized the area and began to hand over operations to civilian relief effort organizations. The Marines continued to work with the Haitian government, the U.S. Department of State and relief organizations to provide needed services including logistics support and security.

“We worked ourselves right out of a job,” Carpenter said of the 22nd MEU’s efficiency. “People needed help and we responded. We were able to get to places no one else could. We had range of the whole island.”

Carpenter, who is awaiting transfer to a duty station in Maryland, said it is too early to say what is next for the 22nd MEU, but that he is confident it will be up to any challenge.