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Camp Lejeune-based Regimental Combat Team 2 relieves

Camp Lejeune-based Regimental Combat Team 2 relieves Twentynine Palms unit in western Al Anbar Province, Iraq Multi-National Force - West PAO

Regimental Combat Team 2, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., officially assumed responsibility for western Al Anbar Province, Iraq, Saturday.

The Marine infantry regiment is relieving Regimental Combat Team 7 from Twentynine Palms, Calif., of operational duties and responsibilities for this region in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

More than 300 Marines and Sailors from Regimental Combat Team 2 deployed here during the past several weeks as part of the II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), which consists of approximately 25,000 Marines, Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen.

The transition of authority is part of a regularly scheduled rotation of U.S. and other Coalition Forces in Al Anbar Province as II MEF (Fwd) relieves the California-based I MEF (Fwd).

Regimental Combat Team 2's area of responsibility encompasses approximately 30,000 square miles of western Al Anbar, stretching from west of the Euphrates River to the Jordanian and Syrian borders. As part of the "Sunni Triangle," the area includes such regions as the Hadithah triad, Al Qaim, and other areas where Marines from Twentynine Palms have spent the past year training Iraqi security forces and working with their Iraqi counterparts to quell the insurgency.

Regimental Combat Team 2, which is the command element for more than 4,000 Marines, Sailors, and Soldiers throughout western Al Anbar Province, will spend the next year training and operating with Iraqi security forces in an effort to disrupt and interdict insurgent activity.

Regimental Combat Team 2 is commanded by Col. H. Stacy Clardy, III, who spoke about the transfer Dec. 30, 2006. "The unit before us has done a phenomenal job with the Iraqi forces and Iraqi people. We'll try to build on what they did."

Regimental Combat Team 2 is deploying for the third time since the war in Iraq began in 2003. This is the RCT's second time operating in western Al Anbar Province. The regiment participated in Operations Iron Fist, Matador and Steel Curtain in 2005.

Source: Multi-National Force-Iraq