“Let's go home,” Petty Officer 3rd Class Marquez Martinez said while adjusting his sea bag on his shoulder.
“Yes, let's go,” beamed wife Katarina Martinez, toting 8-month-old Alaina on her hip while 2-year-old Mason sat in the stroller. The kids donned star-spangled pants that complemented their father's dress blues.
Martinez, an information systems technician, was one of 1,000 sailors welcomed home Thursday from the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group following an extended eight-month deployment to the Middle East. The group included assault ship USS Bataan, which pulled into port Thursday at Naval Station Norfolk, and dock landing ship USS Carter Hall, which returned to its homeport of Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach. Transport dock USS Mesa Verde, homeported at Naval Station Norfolk, returns Friday.
The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed with the Bataan group July 10 from Hampton Roads to create an interoperable force capable of storming foreign shores. The rapid response Marine force returned home to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
The mission for this deployment was all about presence.
“It just means we are here and that reassured our allies and partner nations,” Capt. Paul Burkhart, commanding officer of the Bataan, said after disembarking the ship.
Less than two weeks after the group deployed, the Bataan and Carter Hall were ordered to sail to the Middle East to bolster maritime security….
