The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) was slated to depart Camp Lejeune, N.C., in support of the war on terror in the last week of August. The 2,200-member Marine Air-Ground Task Force boarded the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima, the dock landing ship Carter Hall, and the one of the Navy’s newest commissioned vessels, the amphibious transport dock San Antonio. The deployment comes after six months of rigorous training, which included a real-world diversion in the spring to help flood victims in Indiana.