About 150 Marines and sailors with the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment left from Hickam Air Force Base this morning en route to al Asad air base in Iraq where they will serve a seven-month deployment.

Their families bid them goodbye at the Marine Corps Base Hawai'i at Kane'ohe Bay.

There has been speculation that this could be the last deployment of Hawai'i based troops to Iraq as the United States turns its focus to the war in Afghanistan.

Marine Capt. Jaisun Hanson said goodbye to his wife Amie, their 2-year-old son, David, and daughter, Mandolyn, 6. Mandolyn wore a T-shirt that said she was a Marine daughter, one of the brave and the few.

Hanson said of the mission: "I have a good feeling about it."

He said his troops would be doing mostly "local security patrols when they are in country."

Hanson said he had heard talk that Iraq missions would be winding down, but that he couldn't confirm anything.

He will be on his second tour to Iraq.