Overview
- More than 4,500 Marines and sailors assigned to the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are coming home after a deployment that lasted nearly ten months in the Caribbean.
- While deployed under Operation Southern Spear, the 22nd MEU carried out maritime interdictions against drug trafficking, reinforced U.S. embassies in Haiti and Venezuela, delivered over 780,000 pounds of humanitarian aid to Jamaica, and trained with regional partners.
- The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit has taken over SOUTHCOM’s immediate‑response role as Littoral Combat Force‑24 and will operate from a regional headquarters and shore nodes, including locations in Puerto Rico.
- USS Fort Lauderdale will stay in the region to provide a single‑ship platform for LCF‑24, a stopgap approach driven by a shortfall in available amphibious ships that has forced the services to change how they deploy Marines.
- Elements of the Iwo Jima ARG participated in the Jan. 3 Caracas operation that removed Nicolás Maduro to U.S. custody and led to federal charges in New York, underscoring the political and legal stakes tied to the deployment.