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Spokane-based Marine battalion heads to Iraq

By Sara Leaming sarale@spokesman.com

About 150 U.S. Marine Corps reservists based in Spokane have been deployed to Iraq, a Marine spokesman confirmed Wednesday.

“This unit has been mobilized, and everyone here has been put on active duty,” said Capt. Matthew Nation, inspector instructor for the 5th Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, based in North Spokane.

The Marines, mostly from the Spokane area, will leave over the weekend for Twentynine Palms, Calif., where they will train for two weeks at the Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Center.

The battalion is scheduled to leave for Iraq sometime in August or September for a seven-month deployment, Nation said.

“We’ll be working in the First Marine Expeditionary Force area of operations, which is located in the Al Anbar province of Iraq,” Nation said.

The 5th Battalion is an artillery unit, but will be primarily focusing on infantry security operations in Iraq, Nation said.

The preparations and departure of the Spokane unit have not been announced publicly for security reasons, Nation said.

Over the past few weeks, the unit had two days of activities for Marines and their families in preparation for the deployment, he said.

“We’ve got a very strong volunteer network,” comprising the wives from the all-male unit, he said.

During the deployment, each Marine’s wife will get a list of other families of Marines deployed from the unit. “Once the unit deploys the commanding officer will e-mail me about what’s going on over there, and I will send updates to those key volunteers,” Nation said.

The Marine unit is the second unit from the Spokane and North Idaho areas this month to be deployed to support the war.

Over the Fourth of July weekend, hundreds of families and friends throughout the region gathered for a sendoff of 900 members of the Idaho Army National Guard’s 116th Cavalry Brigade.

The reservists departed from airfields in Lewiston, Idaho Falls, Pocatello and the West Plains of Spokane County. They are among 2,000 Idaho National Guardsmen recently called to duty.