Approximately 100 Marines and sailors with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment will depart Hawaii this afternoon for a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan.

This is the final group of approximately 1,000 Marines and sailors who began deploying earlier this week.
This will be their first combat tour to Afghanistan since their return from there in January 2006, and their fourth combat deployment to the U.S. Central Command area of operations.
The Marines and sailors of 2/3 returned from a combat tour in Iraq in August 2008 and previously deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from October 2006 to April 2007.