Iwo Jima ARG Heads Home After 10 Months in SOUTHCOM Ops

After nearly 10 months in U.S. Southern Command, the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are heading home to Norfolk. Redirected from Europe and briefly returning to Norfolk to dodge Hurricane Erin, the ARG/MEU supported Operation Southern Spear against illicit narcotics boats, reinforced U.S. embassies in Haiti and Venezuela, delivered humanitarian aid to Jamaica, and conducted bilateral exercises. San Antonio had already returned; Iwo Jima and Fort Lauderdale remained in the Caribbean as other forces regroup. SOUTHCOM continued narcotics interdictions—one May 26 strike killed a man and left two survivors, and a separate go-fast vessel seizure yielded 1,153 kilograms of cocaine—while the Coast Guard searches for survivors.