Overview
- USS Iwo Jima pulled into Naval Station Norfolk on Saturday, June 6, and offloaded its embarked Marines who were sent back to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
- During a 296-day deployment, the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and 22nd MEU logged about 6,200 sorties, 1,850 flight hours and more than 130,573 combined nautical miles.
- The ARG served as the first naval wave for Operation Southern Spear and operated with the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group and other surface ships to carry out enhanced counter-narcotics and maritime interdiction missions.
- Sailors and Marines provided disaster relief in Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa, working with Joint Task Force Bravo to deliver water, food and medical supplies to hard-hit areas.
- Reporting from Stars and Stripes says elements of the ARG took part in a Jan. 3 operation that led to Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife being transported to U.S. custody, a development that has legal and regional implications and remains reported rather than officially confirmed by multiple U.S. agencies.